The Papuan provincial government, in cooperation with an expert team of the Commission for Eradication of Corruption (KPK), assessed 62 palm oil licenses in the Papua Province over the past two years. The expert team found irregularities among most of the examined licenses, covering violations such as overlapping concession areas, approval of concessions without clear location maps, and field operations carried out outside concession areas without valid licenses. In response to the findings, the local government in Papua Province has suggested withdrawing 35 palm oil licenses with a total land area of 522,397 hectares. Nineteen other licenses with minor irregularities could be dealt with through correctional measures.
Similar violations by palm oil companies have also been reported from the Papua Barat Province in March 2021. The police launched investigations against 13 palm oil investors holding plantation licenses in the province. The companies arranged plantation licenses (HGU, Hak Guna Usaha) but had never launched their field operations. Like in the Papua Province, the investigations followed up on an evaluation of licenses by the local government and the KPK. Moreover, the assessment revealed that more than 2,224 hectares of land were outside the designated concession areas.
