Mount Salak Threatened! PKH Task Force Reveals Severe Damage Due To PETI In Lebak, Bogor, Sukabumi

LEBAK - Damage to conservation forests in the Halimun Salak National Park (TN) located in Lebak, Bogor and Sukabumi Regencies is about 10 percent of the 105,072 hectare area.

Head of the TN Balai 12, Budi Chandra, said that based on the interin calculations, the damage to the TN conservation forest was around 10 percent of the total 105,072 hectares.

The cause of the damage was due to the rise of gold mining without a permit (PETI) and state losses were still being calculated by the Financial and Development Supervisory Agency (BPKP).

Therefore, said Budi, his party strongly supports controlling PETI by the Forest Area Control Task Force (PKH) which involves 10 ministry institutions according to President Prabowo Subianto's orders.

"We really need to take action to control the forest area of the TN in order not to cause damage," Budi said, quoted by Antara, Thursday, December 4.

The commander of the PKH Task Force, Maj. Gen. Dody Trywanto, said that the damage to the TN conservation forest was estimated to be between 10-15 percent and more severe in the Lebak Regency area.

"The PETI activity must be stopped because it can damage the ecological forest environment, it can also cause natural disasters," he said.

According to him, PETI's activities in the region have been carried out since 1990 which penetrated and damaged the TN of Badminton, after PT Antam Cikotok was no longer operating.

"We must act decisively to bring order to the PETI so that the ecological environment of the TN conservation forest is restored so that it does not become damaged," he said.

Meanwhile, the Director of Forestry Crime Enforcement, Rudianto Saragih Napitu, said that illegal miners' activities in TN were around 1,400 mining holes spread across Lebak, Bogor and Sukabumi regencies with a depth of 20 50 meters, forming machines along thousands of kilometers.

"I think the hole could be a time bomb for potential natural disasters around the TN area and the impact is detrimental to the community as well as other ecosystems," he said.

Therefore, he said, his party together with the PKH Task Force team had carried out three illegal mining control operations since the end of October 2025.

"PKH Task Force officers have closed nearly 400 holes in illegal mining activities. We are targeting to close 1,400 illegal mining holes and carry out in stages through the control operation," he said.