East Kalimantan lifts ban on Bayan?s subsidiaries

By Ruli Setiawan

The East Kalimantan provincial government has lifted the temporary ban on the transportation of coal by two subsidiaries of IDX-listed coal mining company PT Bayan Resources Tbk -- PT Fajar Sakti Prima (FST) and PT Bara Tabang (BT) ? through Kedang Kepala River in Kutai Kartanegara regency.

?Following the lifting of the temporary ban, BT can now resume transporting its coal through Kedang Kepala River. The decision however does not have impact on FSP because the firm did not transport its coal through Kedang Kepala River,? Bayan said in a statement on Thursday.

It did not mention through which FSP transports its coal.

As reported earlier in this portal, the provincial government ordered both firms in late August to stop activities on the grounds that they had been transporting their coal through Kedang Kepala River, which is part of a conservation area, since March. They said that it was in breach of the environmental impact assessment document (also known here as Amdal), which stipulates that the companies must transport the coal via the Belayan River.

The firms reportedly switched to the Kedang Kepala River because barges can?t pass through Belayan amid the current drought.

Editing by Johannes Simbolon