Riau Islands opens center to respond to oil spills

Fadli ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Batam   |  Sat, 07/05/2008 12:21 PM  |  The Archipelago

Indonesia, one of the busiest shipping areas in the world, lacks effective means to cope with oil spills, the environment minister says.

"The government so far has no such team in the event of an oil spill. We only use services provided by private companies operating in the field," said Environmental Minister Rachmat Witoelar at the inauguration of the Riau Islands Oil Spill Response Center (OSRC) in Batam on Thursday.

The OSRC is managed by provincial-owned PT Kepri Enerflow Environment (BUMD).

Rachmat said the Riau Islands administration had realized the need for such centers before the central government.

Many areas in Indonesia are at risk from oil spills, including the Thousand Islands, Papua and Kalimantan, he said.

"We hope those areas will be able to set up such centers."

He said the administration was aware that heavy shipping traffic in the Malacca Strait put the province at risk.

Hundreds of tankers pass through the Malacca Strait every day, transporting at least 7 million barrels of oil.

He said the public and local administration must take steps to ensure environmental protection, as is stipulated under a revision of Law No. 23/1997 on the environment.

"Perpetrators of environmental crimes are more cruel than terrorists because they destroy the environment for the current generation and for the next," he said.

The government has difficulty in identifying which boats are responsible for oil sludge dumps because they have usually left the scene by the time a slick is discovered, he said.

"They do it on the move, so much so that we find it hard to catch them," said Rachmat.

Riau Islands Governor Ismeth Abdullah said he commended BUMD's move to form the OSRC, citing the danger of having such a high number of ship accidents in the area.

Ismeth said the province provided an initial Rp 3.2 billion (US$355,000) from the provincial budget to fund the OSRC, including for oil spill recovery equipment purchases.

"The oil spills that have affected parts of the province have caused mangrove forest destruction and damaged resort areas in the province. The presence of the OSRC is quite timely," said Ismeth.

Riau Islands BUMD director Eva Amalia said the OSRC was set up in partnership with PT Enerflow Engineering Indonesia, a Jakarta-based private company that is experienced in oil spill recovery.

The OSRC offers a membership system to all private and state companies that ship polluting materials in the Riau Islands area.

"We expect to be able to respond quickly to pollution caused by tanker accidents at sea thanks to the expensive and high-tech equipment," Eva said.

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