Laguboti, 12 January 2019. Environmental issues of Lake Toba as Tourism area became one of the main agendas during the coordination meeting led by Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan. This meeting was also attended by Vice Governor of North Sumatera Musa Rajecksyah, head of government office of Kabupaten Karo Terkelin Brahmana, head of government office of Humbang Hasundutan Dosmar Banjarnahor, head of government office of Kabupaten Toba Samosir Darwin Siagian, head of government office of Kabupaten Samosir Rapidin Simbolon, Regional Secretary of Kabupaten Simalungun Gidion Purba, and vice head of government office of North Tapanuli Mauliate Simorangkir at Institut Teknologi Del. The coordination meeting discusses mainly on the issues on environment of Lake Toba such as the quality of water, the cleanliness of lake, organization of the floating fish farming (Penataan Keramba Jaringan Apung (KJA)). During the meeting, Mr Luhut also signed a memorandum for tree planting and commitment for stopping the illegal logging in the area of the lake as well as the commitment to the development and control of Toba Lake Toba tourism.

j
Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan demanded all head officers of the regions around Lake Toba to always coordinate with related parties in settling land dispute claimed by people in relation to the owners of the protected forests. Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs asked the Vice Governor of North Sumatera to continue to make coordination with personnel of The Indonesian National Armed Forces or The Indonesian National Police to cope with the issues.

Meanwhile, the Vice Governor of North Sumatera Musa Rajecksyah said as such issues have been reported by the head officers of Lake Toba region. He mentioned that each region has had its specific issues regarding forest dispute long claimed by people from surrounding villages as the customary land like those in Tobasa, Samosir and Kabupaten Karo.

“In order to prevent any other obstruction in the development by the local government and a way to anticipate and to follow-up any reports, the Forestry Service of North Sumatera Province together with Authority Body for Lake Toba will be forwarding the complaints to the law enforcer,” he mentioned. (Source: Pendam I/BB)

0077e 0076e 0090e 0079e