Berau Coal demanded to be transparent on coal output

Five youths organizations from East Kalimantan have demanded coal miner PT Berau Coal to be transparent about its coal output, local daily Kaltim Post reported on Tuesday.

The organizations said in a statement many people in Berau Regency did not know the real volumes of coal produced by Berau Coal.

Accordingly, people remained unclear about the real amounts of funds Berau Coal has to allocate for the local administration and community groups, they said.

They said Berau Coal should explain about the 5 percent portion given to the local administration annually from the sales of its coal.

The organizations also demanded the company to employ more locals for its projects.

Meanwhile, Berau regency council vice chairman Ahmad Rifai said new coal investors need to be brought into the area, which would enable the regency to receive more.

Rifai quoted Berau officials as saying that the company had annually allocated US$81 million to the central government, and $8.5 million to the Berau regency administration. Rifai said the regency should receive more than $8.5 million annually.

Berau coal operates around 121,000 hectares of mining sites in Berau Regency, East Kalimantan.

The company said it had produced some 6.7 million tons of coal in 2001.

Heavy equipment producer PT United Tractors has 60 percent stake in Berau Coal. (*)