7/2/06 JAKARTA, (Asia Pulse) - The government will grow oil palm on idle land in border areas of East Kalimantan, Agriculture Minister Anton Apriyantono said.

The plan to open large oil palm plantations in the frontier areas has drawn strong protests especially from environmentalists who said it will cause extensive damage to the forests in that area.

Anton said there are two million hectares of land that could be used for that purpose, therefore, the plan will not cause damage to the environment.

He said the lands have been cleared by plantation companies but until now they failed to carry out their projects.

Now the government has the right to revoke their license and use the land for oil palm plantation projects, he said.

(ANTARA)