33 coal mining companies suspend investments

As many as 33 coal mining companies have suspended their investments of up to US$1 billion in value during the past four years due to uncertainty in the government?s policy in the coal mining sector, the association of Indonesian coal miners (APBI) said as reported by Kompas on Thursday.

The association?s secretary general, Jeffrey Mulyono, said in Jakarta on Wednesday that most of the companies had started their coal mining projects but later suspended them because they felt the government?s policy was no longer conducive for their operation.

He warned that if the government did change its regulation, the country?s coal mining sector would collapse and would only recover in between 10 and 20 years.

Three of the 33 companies suspended their mining projects in 1998, 15 companies in 199 and another nine companies in 2001.

According to Jeffrey, the government?s regulations which discourage coal companies include the government regulation No 144; 2000 which changed the status of coal from non-taxable product to taxable product, Law No 34; 2000 on the expansion of tax on motorized vehicles, the Law No 41; 1999 on forestry and regulation No 82; 2001 on water quality management and several other regulations issued by provincial administrations. (*)