Menhut: There is no application for forest areas to hunt for victims of the Sumatra disaster

JAKARTA - Minister of Forestry (Menhut) Raja Juli Antoni said that so far no local government has applied for land use in forest areas for temporary (huntara) and permanent (huntap) housing in the Sumatran flood area.

"Until last week there was none. That means that the BMN (State-owned Goods) owned by the local government is still sufficient," said Minister of Finance Raja Juli Antoni when met after opening the cat sterilization and Kemenhut Animal Friendly activities in Jakarta, Thursday, March 12, reported by ANTARA.

Raja Juli explained that both for huntaradan huntapfor the survivors of the Sumatra floods, in addition to land from the local government (Pemda), there are also former Hak Guna Usaha (HGU) areas managed by the Ministry of Agrarian and Spatial Planning/National Land Agency (ATR/BPN) in a number of points used for the construction of the two types of housing.

"So there is no forest area that is requested for huntap or huntara," explained Menhut.

Previously, in a meeting of the Post-disaster Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Acceleration Task Force in Aceh, North Sumatra, and West Sumatra, on February 23, 2026, the Ministry of Home Affairs stated its readiness to provide land in forest areas if needed as part of the post-disaster recovery of Sumatra.

Deputy Minister of Forestry (Wamenhut) Rohmat Marzuki on that occasion expressed readiness to facilitate the provision of land in forest areas if needed and proposed by the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) or local government.

For huntara, the mechanism used is the approval of the use of forest areas. Meanwhile, for huntap through the mechanism of releasing forest areas in accordance with the provisions of laws and regulations.

The Ministry of Home Affairs previously received a letter from the Minister of Public Works (PU) regarding the request for the use of forest areas for wood storage areas, the construction of sabodam, the provision of raw water, and the handling of roads and bridges that cross forest areas.