Forestry state companies to rehabilitate 56,000 ha of land

"For Java, we recommended public corporation Perhutani to deal with 35,000 hectares of arid land at a cost of Rp156 billion," Darori said on Thursday.

And for places outside Java island, he added, the forestry ministry assigned PT Inhutani I-V to rehabilitate 20,000 hectares of arid land.

Darori also said that all the funding for the Gerhan program is drawn from the State Budget, not from foreign grants or loans. "Well any way if there is a grant for the rehabilitation of the environment, thank God," he said.

He also expressed optimism that the target of Gerhan in 2007 covering a total of 900,000 hectares at a cost of Rp3.3 trillion could be reached. "We are optimistic about this because we have also allocated Rp 5.6 trillion in maintenance funding," he said.