T

he central government has been urged to provide tight control on islands exclusively owned by private companies for fear of having slowed down investment activity and misappropriating land use in Riau Islands province.

Chairman of Batam municipal legislative council's Commission II overseeing economy, Yudi Kurnain, said that according to the 2007 law on coastal area and small island management, exclusive ownership of an island was prohibited.

"The law requires that there must be public access on such islands," Yudi told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

He added that many islands whose ownership turned into private sectors, mostly during the New Order era, were closed to the public. In fact, he said, ideally only 60 percent of such islands could be managed by private companies.

"The central government must take over the islands to restore public access," he said, expressing that having no public access would make islands vulnerable to crime and make it easy to change ownership.

Yudi said there were at least fi ve strategically positioned islands that were privately owned. Unfortunately, none had been developed as they were proposed, Yudi said. "It's urgent for the national land affairs agency to make an inventory of such islands.

"If they are not developed as they should be, then they should be taken back to the government as they are slowing down investment activity and opening up opportunities for land use misappropriation," Yudi said.

As licenses for developing those islands were issued by the central government, he added, the central government were also responsible for conducting surveillance on owners of the islands.

Quoting from the agrarian law, Jon Arizal, secretary of the regional board of the special economic zone of Batam, Bintan Karimun (BBK), said that an institution or individual having the ownership of a vast plot of land, who failed to manage it well were obliged to return it back to the state.

The board, tasked with managing the BBK region, for example, notes that of the 23,000-hectare Lagoi tourist resort, only 4,000 hectares was developed by the management company. Similarly, of the 300-hectare metal industrial region only 30 hectares were developed.

The board also notes that there are at least four islands under the ownership of tycoon Liem Sie Liong's PT Salim Group that has just been abandoned. They are Karimun Anak, Kepala Jeri, Bulan and Sagui islands.

The conditions were considered to have caused financial loss to the region as no income could be generated from the abandoned properties. "We have asked the companies to return the land to the state. There are many other investors who are willing to develop them," Jon said.

The board, according to Jon, had recorded many companies that during the period of between 1970 and 1990 had received land ownership over a plot of land in the region with ease and relatively cheap prices. All reportedly were close allies of former president Soeharto.