Autonomy in mining sector delayed
Wednesday, January 3 2001 - 05:00 AM WIB
The government has decided to delay the full implementation of the regional autonomy policy in the mining sector, the evening Suara Pembaruan daily reported.
The paper quoted Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy Purnomo Yusgiantoro as saying that the central government would only transfer the authority over the mining contract (or locally called KK) and the coal mining contract (PKP2B) to provinces gradually over a five-year period.
A presidential decree on this would soon be issued, Purnomo said.
The government launched the regional autonomy policy on January 1, 2001.
But Purnomo said that the delay would only be applied to regions which were not ready and had little capacity to fully implement the regional autonomy policy in the mining sector.
Purnomo said that regions which were ready and had the capacity to fully implement the regional autonomy policy in the mining sector would be allowed to immediately gain power over the issuance of the KK and PKP2B contracts.
He declined to name the regions which were ready, saying that the it would be up to a special government team to decide.(*)