East Kutai rejects oil, gas revenue split
Friday, June 22 2001 - 01:32 AM WIB
A meeting on Thursday between director general of regional autonomy Sudarsono and East Kutai Regent Awang Faroek failed to reach an agreement. The meeting was also participated by Kutai Kertanegara Regent Syaukani, East Kalimantan Governor Suwarna AF, and other officials from the ministry of mineral resources and energy, and the finance ministry.
East Kutai continued to demand an oil and gas revenue share of Rp 838.7 billion as initially set by the central government in November last year. The administration argued that the amount had been allocated in the local budget already approved by the local parliament.
The government based on the data submitted by East Kalimantan Governor Suwarna AF allocated around Rp 828 billion in oil and gas revenue share for the East Kutai administration. But the neighboring Kutai Kertanegara regency which only received Rp 945 billion protested on grounds most of oil and gas fields are located in the area not in East Kutai. The central government then reviewed the decision, and reduced the allocated for East Kutai to only Rp 138 billion, and increased the allocation for Kutai Kertanegara to Rp 1.4 trillion.
The Radar Kaltim daily quoted East Kutai Regent Awang Faroek as saying that if the central government failed to accommodate the demand of the regency, it planned to ask the court to hold a judicial review on the policy.(*)