KLH Wants To Summon 8 Companies Allegedly Caused Floods In North Sumatra Next Week

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Environment / Environmental Control Agency will summon eight companies suspected of contributing to exacerbate flooding in the North Sumatra (North Sumatra) region, next week.

Deputy Minister of Environment / Deputy Head of the Life Control Agency Diaz Hendropriyono said KLH would also investigate a number of companies suspected of violating, exacerbating flooding in Aceh and West Sumatra.

"But in North Sumatra, especially Batang Toru, there are eight companies such as the Minister have also conveyed that. That, right, we will invite them later," he said when met at Tanjung Priok Port, Jakarta, Wednesday, December 3.

Diaz said the summons was made to investigate the completeness of environmental licensing, land to allegations of environmental pollution.

"We will invite and to see if the environmental licensing is complete or not, next week. We will analyze from all sides, both in terms of nature and also land provisions, vegetation as well as from environmental licensing, whether or not the eight companies are defamatory," he said.

Further examination will be carried out by the Directorate General of Law Enforcement (Gakum). Diaz has not been able to confirm the sanctions that will be imposed on the eight companies if they are proven to have violated.

"We see what the violations are like, but later we will communicate them with the Gakkum section," he said.

Apart from North Sumatra, his party will also track down companies that exacerbate flooding in Aceh and West Sumatra (West Sumatra).

"In Aceh, we have explored it, this is not much oil palm, just a little bit. West Sumatra is also being traced," he added.

The summons of the eight companies is part of the government's response to the flood disaster that hit hundreds of houses and resulted in casualties in Aceh. North Sumatra and West Sumatra, which are thought to have been exacerbated by environmental damage in the upstream area.

Walhi North Sumatra suspects that seven companies triggered floods and landslides in Tapanuli which had paralyzed 51 villages. The disaster since November 25, 2025, has damaged tens of thousands of people and damaged thousands of houses and agricultural land.

North Sumatra's Walhi Director, Rianda Purba, emphasized that the hydrometrical disaster was not just a weather factor, but a result of environmental damage in the essential tropical forest area of Batang Toru. Satellite imagery shows thick forests in affected locations.

"We indicated that seven companies were the trigger for damage due to exploitative activities to open the cover of the Batang Toru forest," said Rianda, quoted from an official statement, Wednesday, December 3.