Massive ETimor land-for-biofuel plan raises hackles

0 Comments | AFP, June, 2008

DILI (AFP) — East Timor's government is under fire over an agreement to turn more than a sixth of the country's arable land over to a 100 million dollar foreign-funded ethanol project.

The Fretilin opposition has branded as a "land giveaway" a memorandum of understanding between the agriculture minister and GTLeste Biotech for a 100,000 hectare (247,000 acre) sugar plantation and ethanol plant.

The agreement with the little-known Indonesian company guarantees at least 100 million dollars in investment in return for granting GTLeste a 50-year lease over a swathe of "unproductive land" with an option for 50 years more.

The government is touting the move as a major potential source of foreign cash which could generate more than 2,000 jobs.

But...