Dayak Pitap people in South Kalimantan approves mining project

The Dayak Pitap indigenous people in the Awayan Mountain in Hulu Sungai Utara regency, South Kalimantan province, finally approved the plan by South Korean investor to open an ore steel mining project in the area.

The approval was given during a dialogue on Wednesday with Hulu Sungai Utara regent Suhailin Muchtar, the Banjarmasin Post daily reported.

The local people, however, required the South Korean investor to recruit local labor resources, preserve the local culture, and avoid opening mining site in the people?s plantation or farming area. The people said that if the company had to take farming land, it must provided sufficient compensation payment.

The paper said that the indigenous community initially rejected the project amid rumors that the mining operation would take up to 10,000 ha site, meaning that there would be no land left for local farming activity.

But Suhailin said that the rumor was baseless, pointing out that the ore steel mining project would only cover around 3,640 ha site.(*)