Deadline for KPC divestment extended to another one month
Saturday, June 29 2002 - 03:03 AM WIB
A reliable source told the daily on Friday that new deadline was made during a meeting between the inter-governmental team and executives of the coal producer. "All parties agreed to extended the deadline to July 31 to give the inter-governmental team enough time to lobby the provincial administration to drop its legal suit," he said.
The initial deadline was set at June 30 but the legal suit filed by the provincial administration against the company?s shareholders has caused a delay in the divestment process. The provincial administration sued the company?s shareholders and the ministry of energy and mineral resources for prohibiting it from buying the 51 percent of KPC shares that would be divested.
KPC, which operates a large coal mining area in East Kalimantan, is equally owned by world mining giants Rio Tinto and BP. Under contracts of works awarded by the ministry of energy and mineral resources, the company?s shareholders are required to divest 51 percent of their shares to local investors.
Besides the provincial authority, the Kutai regency where most part of KPC coal concession are located also demands to control KPC?s 51 percent share. Meanwhile a number of state owned and private companies have also expressed their firm interest in buying the KPC shares.
The government has said that the KPC?s 51 shares will be auctioned under a competitive bidding process, and be sold to a number of parties so that no single investor will be able to control the majority stake in the coal company.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, the regent of Kutai, Awang Faroek could not also hide his opposition against East Kalimantan Governor, which file the legal suit against the KPC shareholders. "The main obstacle of the KPC divestment is Pak Governor," he was quoted as saying by Kaltim Post. (*)