Berau Coal's aid to community remains small

PT Berau Coal, which operates coal mining in the Senggata district of the Berau regency in East Kalimantan, allocates between Rp 100 million to Rp 200 million in community development fund a year, the company's number one man has said.

The company's president Jefrey Mulyono said that the amount of the community development aid was still relatively very small if compared to that given by its neighbour PT Kaltim Prima Coal.

"Our community development fund is still very small but our commitment to help the local people is quite strong," he said, adding that the aid could not be compared to that of PT Kaltim Prima Coal because the size of the coal production of the two companies was quite different.

He said PT Berau's coal production was only 3.3 million tons a year, much lower than about 20 million tons produced by PT Kaltim Prima. "We hope in the future we could increase the aid so that the local residents will also benefit the presence of the company in their area," he added.

PT Berau, which started its coal mining operation in 1993, has produced at total of 9.3 million tons of coal. The company, which exports the coal products to India, the Philippines, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan and Chile, employs 2,304 workers. (*)