"Indonesia Revokes Permit for Chinese-Built Dam Threatening Ape Species", Inside Climate News, 23 January 2026

Indonesia’s Ministry of State Secretariat announced Tuesday that President Prabowo Subianto had revoked permits for 28 companies that had violated forestry regulations in mining, plantation and forestry sectors across northern Sumatra. While it didn’t name the companies in its press release, multiple reports have said the list includes the dam and mine.

[...] came one week after Indonesia’s Environment Ministry said it filed civil lawsuits against six companies it said had caused damage, including those that own the dam and mine. [...].

Activists have been fighting for years to block construction of the Batang Toru dam, which is majority owned, built and financed by Chinese state-owned companies.

[...] satellite imagery showed landslides hitting above and below several industrial sites. An access road built for dam construction appeared particularly problematic [...] with images showing logs were left along the riverbank, only to be swept away and carried downstream in the floods, wreaking havoc.

SDIC Power Holdings, the majority owner of the dam and a subsidiary of the State Development and Investment Corp., a large Chinese state-owned enterprise, did not reply to a request for comment. PLN, the Indonesian state-owned utility, also did not respond.