Only a quarter of the country's 460 municipal and regency administrations have established commissions for creating environmental impact assessments (Amdals), a state ministry says.

The acting Amdal unit director at the State Ministry for the Environment, Ary Sudijanto, on Friday attributed the failure of most regions to form such commissions partly to poor human resources in environmental affairs.

He also said that of the existing 115 Amdal councils in the municipalities and the regencies, only about a half had made environmental feasibility reports for their respective regions.

"They are like doctors waiting for patients. Some regents have established Amdal councils but no companies have requested Amdal documents," Ary told a workshop on environmental impact assessments.

Amdal papers are required under law to determine whether or not a given business activity is environmentally feasible for a particular area. They are required for the issuance of business permits.

Since the regional autonomy law was enforced in 2001, local administrations have been authorized to manage their natural resources, including by issuing Amdals.

The central government is now only responsible for analyzing environmental impact assessments on business activities that have potential impacts on the public or projects related to defense and security in border areas.

However, some regional administrations had rejected the environmental assessments from the central government.

The Jakarta administration, for example, has gone ahead with its controversial plan for land reclamation projects along 32 kilometers of the city's northern coast, despite warnings from the central government.

A ministry report concluded the project would only worsen floods in Jakarta, increase sea level in other coastal areas by 12 centimeters, worsen pollution in Thousand Islands regency, destroy the marine ecosystem and cause thousands of fishermen to lose their livelihoods.

Ary said the ministry would issue standards of competency for local officials dealing with the assessments.

"We will provide certificates to appraisers of Amdals. We will withdraw their licenses once these officials move to other divisions," he said.

He said each regency or municipality needed at least five staff members to deal with Amdal processing.

"But I estimate only about 60 percent of the regions meet the criteria to set up Amdal commissions."

Isna Marifa, managing director of PT Qipra Galang Kualita, an environmental training and communications consulting firm, expressed concern over the poor performance of environmental appraisers in local administrations.

"Many of the existing appraisers lack the abilities to assess the complicated Amdal documents but they must make decisions to allow investors to start business," she told the workshop.

Isna said it was urgent for the government to upgrade the assessment system to protect the environment from business activities.

"Under the current system, the Amdal documents seem to be 100 percent accurate even though some companies have operated for more than 10 years. The Amdal must be reviewed regularly," she said.

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