The new West Java governor's plans to revive a number of infrastructure projects were opposed Tuesday by environmentalists who said the foreign loans used would overburden the community.

Governor Ahmad Heryawan's plans, including the construction of the Jati Gede dam, are worth some Rp 2.2 trillion (US$244 million) and were devised by his predecessor, Danny Setiawan.

The Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi)'s Bandung chapter spokesman Dadang Sudardja said the forum were seeking support from other non-government organizations to boycott the projects.

"Whoever the governor is, or future elected president will be, we will continue to oppose these projects because they are not worthwhile. They will become an increasing burden for the community who will have to pay off overseas debts," Dadang told The Jakarta Post in Bandung on Monday.

Heryawan, however, reiterated that his administration would go ahead with the projects, which he said would benefit the majority of people in the province.

"Why should we stop projects which have been running well. We will go ahead and complete them for the community's sake," Heryawan said.

The administration claims it needs to build the Jatigede Dam to overcome water shortages in thousands of hectares of farmland in Cirebon, Majalengka and Indramayu. The 800-million-cubic-meter Jatigede dam is projected to irrigate some 97,000 hectares of paddy.

The planned construction of the Jatigede dam should be reviewed due to disparities between past and present cost estimates, Dadang said.

The dam, which was first planned in 1963, Dadang said, would displace more than 70,000 people, submerge five districts and 30 villages. It would also damage the ecosystem because it would inundate some 1,200 hectares of Perhutani state forest, he said.

"We are concerned that the ecosystem would be damaged and that the dam would contribute significantly to the greenhouse effect because, based on research, it would create massive amounts of methane and carbon dioxide gas," Dadang said.

Around 3,200 ha of the total 4,892 ha area planned for the dam is arable land, and has the potential to yield 80,000 tons of rice annually, Walhi estimates.

Local residents first opposed the project when the government began offering compensation to landowners in 1983.

The Bandung Legal Aid Institute, alongside the West Java and Banten chapters of the Land Reform Alliance Movement, have assertively opposed the project which has reportedly involved human rights violations due to unfair land compensation marred with intimidation of villagers by security personnel.

The latest protests occurred early May this year when around 200 residents of seven surrounding villages, naming themselves the Jatigede Planned Submersion Alliance, presented their case to the West Java legislature.

Villagers were extremely disadvantaged in the land compensation process from 1984 to 1986 when they were forced to accept compensation after facing being labeled PKI (communist) if they refused, villagers' spokesman Wahidin said.

Heryawan was apparently unmoved by the villagers protests and predicted environmental impact of the project.

"In every development project, it's normal to have pros and cons," he reiterated.

Dadang said it would be better if the provincial administration reforested areas around the Cimanuk river delta which are key to irrigating the province's north coast area.

"Of the 360,000 ha of damaged land, 47 percent is in the Cimanuk river delta area. The government should prioritize the reforestation of this area. They must not wait until the dam is built because it will only fill up with sediment from Cimanuk," Dadang said.

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