EXCLUSIVE - Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources to revamp organization

Ministry of energy and mineral resources is going to streamline its organization in anticipation of the implementation of the autonomy law next year.

New minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro said over the weekend that the ministry's restructuring team led by director general of geology and mineral resources Suryantoro, which was formed last week, was expected to "soon" propose a new structure of organization of the ministry.

"Under the new structure of organization, directorate general of general mining will be abolished as the rights (to manage and licence mining corporation) will be transferred to the regions," Purnomo told Petromindo.Com.

Under the autonomy law, which the government plan to implement next year, regions have the rights to manage their natural resources and take a large portion of the revenue from the development of natural resources.

Director general of general mining Surna Tjahjadiningrat explained over the weekend that the restructuring team was expected to complete its work this week and the team's proposal would be submitted to the state ministry of administrative reforms for approval.

Surna also said the ministry was considering replacing the current mining licenses with simpler ones.

Under the current system, the government award mining investors with the so-called contracts of work, which require approvals from the House of Representative and the President. The approvals by the House and the President make the contracts equal to laws.

Surna said the government thought the status of the contract of work "too high" and it was studying the possibility of replacing the contract of work system with a simpler permit system as implemented in many parts of the world, including the US.

However, Surna said government has not yet had a clear planning as to who will be authorized to sign the permit. (Lia KS)