DG says 4,000 mining permits do not meet requirements
Friday, May 27 2011 - 02:29 AM WIB
Director General of Mineral and Coal Thamrin Sihite said during a hearing with the Commission VII of the House of Representatives (DPR) that the about 4,000 mining permits cover either areas that overlap with other mining areas, protected forests or the territories of other regencies or provinces.
Thamrin said that the absence of clear information on the border lines separating regencies and provinces was one of the reasons behind the problems.
The issuance of overlapping permits had seriously hampered mining activities because they did not only cause conflicts between miners but also between local administrations.
According to the mining law, a regency administration is allowed to issue a mining permit within its territorial area. If the acreage covers areas in more than one regency, the permit should be issued by the provincial administration. If the acreage covers areas of more than one province, the permit should be issued by the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry.
Coordinating Minister for the Economy Hatta Rajasa said recently the problem was caused by the lack of coordination within the government agencies.
Hatta said that the government would form a special team to cope with the overlapping problems. He said that the local administrations would not be allowed to issue new permits or extend the existing ones until all the verification works had been completed. (*)