The Nusa Tenggara Association

NEWS FROM THE REGION

August 26, 2010

PLN Promises to Meet Large Scale Industry Power Needs by 2011

Kupang Post, 8/8/10

Kupang: PLN’s NTT manager, Santoso Januwarsono, speaking in Kupang on 7/8, acknowledged that many potential investors (from China, Vietnam, Australia and Malaysia), interested particularly in manganese mining and processing, were being deterred from investing in NTT because of inadequate power supply. One mining company has also noted that lack of power meant that a new central government regulation requiring mining companies to set up nearby processing facilities was hard to implement in NTT. Business activity was therefore lagging. According to Januwarsono, PLN’s current output (10 MW) aimed to meet NTT’s domestic and small-scale business needs. But once a number of power stations being developed in the kabupatens of Kupang, Ende, Manggarai and Ngada came on stream in 2011, PLN’s output would be increased to 20 MW, which he hoped would meet the needs of large scale industry.

NTT Youth Demonstrate for Closure of Mines in NTT

Kompas, 29/7/10

Jakarta : Dozens of youth from NTT demonstrated outside the Department of Energy and Mineral Resources in Jakarta on 29/7, demanding that the central government step in and stop all mining in NTT. They claimed that mining was not benefitting local people who remained poor despite decades of mining. Mining was simply a monster, destroying the environment and heightening the danger of natural disasters in a geologically sensitive area (being part of a “ring of fire”). Moreover the mining was not in accord with Indonesian law and was being covertly contrived by a “mining mafia” without public consultation, as required by law.

Hog Cholera Widespread in NTT

Jakarta Post, 23/7/10

Kupang: According to Maria Geong, head of the animal health division of NTT’s Animal Husbandry Service, hog cholera (known as classical swine fever (CSF)), arrived in NTT in 1998 and is now endemic in 15 of NTT’s 21 kabupatens/municipalities. “Only six kabupatens are free of the disease, which we suspect inter-island traffic has helped to spread,” she said, adding that Alor Kabupaten had the highest number of cases. NTT is home to 1.5 million pigs and pork production comprises almost 70 percent of its meat industry.

Maize Production Just Short of Targeted Level in 2010

Kupang Post, 8/8/10

Kupang: According to a NTT Agriculture Service spokesman, in 2010 NTT had 291 000 ha. under maize crops and produced 836 000 tonnes of maize (just 7% short of the hoped for harvest of 900 000 tonnes). Speaking to KP on 7/8, the spokesman admitted that some areas were not yet making a concerted effort to lift maize production in support of Governor Lebu Raya’s goal of making NTT a “maize granary”. The program was thus currently concentrating of west Timor and Sumba (regarded as areas of particular potential). Each kabupaten/municipality in those areas had benefitted from the establishment of at least one pilot project. Efforts to lift maize production would continue and 2011’s production target had been set at 1.6 m tonnes.

Jakarta to Provide Funds for Development of NTT’s Cattle Industry

Kompas, 3/8/10

Kupang: Jakarta is to provide Rp 10 billion (±US$1.1 m) for the development of the cattle industry of NTT, which along with West Nusa Tenggara and South Sulawesi is being targeted as a future mainstay of the nation’s beef supply. This emerged from a meeting between Governor Lebu Raya and a senior national parliamentarian in Kupang on 3/8. According to the governor, NTT remains committed to the development of the cattle industry, but resource constraints (breeding stock and grazing land) are impeding achievement of maximal results. He hoped the national parliament would continue to support NTT’s aspirations in this area.

Be On Guard Against Rabies

Kupang Post, 7/8/10 Editorial

The Kupang Quarantine Station’s destruction of a suspected rabid dog has again underlined the need for the all of us to be aware of the dangers of rabies and the need to control its spread. To keep Timor free of rabies, government officials and people at large need to guard against the entry of potential rabies-carriers at all points of entry, both official and non-official. It is also crucial that NTT’s Agriculture Service be adequately resourced (in terms of staff and equipment) to effectively control the disease. It is not clear whether that is currently the case.

Rabies Scare in Kupang

Kupang Post, 7/8/10

Kupang: The Kupang Quarantine Station has indicated that a suspected rabid dog from Bali destroyed on 5/8 was put down precisely to prevent the possibility of rabies entering west Timor. Only results of an analysis of a blood sample would clarify whether or not the dog was rabid. A government spokesman said that every effort was being made to contain the spread of rabies in NTT and stressed the importance of the entire community being on guard against the entry into west Timor of potential carriers of the disease from areas known to be infected.

(In a separate report in the KP of 9/8) the head of the NTT chapter of the Indonesian Veterinarians Association, Maria Geong, told KP on 7/8 that as of now the only rabies-infected areas in NTT were Flores and the islands of Lembata, Solor and Adonara (all east of Flores). Timor, Alor, Sumba, Rote and Sabu Raijua were all currently rabies-free.

103 Newborn Deaths in TTU in 2009

Kupang Post, 26/7/10

Kefamenanu: An NGO told an open hearing of a Committee meeting of the North Central Timor (TTU) Kabupaten’s DPRD on 24/7 that in TTU during 2010 103 babies had died during childbirth. In addition in the first 6 months of 2010 12 birthing mothers had died. Some of the families directly affected by these deaths addressed the Committee. The discussion pinpointed lack of health services and infrastructure as a major contributing factor. DPRD members expressed deep concern about the issue and undertook to register people’s expectations in future discussions of the kabupaten health budget.

East Indonesia Forum Focuses on Development issues

Kupang Post, 9/8/10 Op-ed piece by Prof. Dr. Mien Ratoe Oedjoe, M.Pd, head of Undana’s Research Institute (Lemlit).

In a long article Prof Oedjoe points out that, by every measure, development in Eastern Indonesia is lagging way behind other areas of the country and is in sore need of more rapid development. It was against this background, he says, that the Eastern Indonesia Regional Forum (Forum KTI) was set up in 2004, with multi-sectoral representation from Nusa Tenggara, Papua, Maluku and Sulawesi. The Forum’s principal purpose has been to foster dialogue and links between all those involved in development in eastern Indonesia with the objective of coming up with innovative and practicable development approaches appropriate to local conditions. He explains how the Forum has blossomed since its establishment and mentions some of the ideas it has championed.

NTT’s Exports to East Timor on the Rise

Kupang Post, 31/7/10

Kupang: Based on recent figures from the Kupang office of the Bureau of Statistics (BPS), the value of NTT’s annual non-oil-and-gas exports to East Timor is estimated to be Rp20 billion (±US2.23 m), ±30% of NTT’s total exports to that country. Most of these non-oil exports consisted of the 9 basic foodstuffs. According to spokesman of NTT’s Trade and Industry Service, East Timor produced coffee but relied on NTT for other commodities. He expressed the hope that NTT’s trade links with East Timor would serve to strengthen regional commerce.

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