Freeport asked to relocate headquarters to Papua

The legislative council of Papua province (DPRD) has asked copper and gold producer Freeport Indonesia to relocate its headquarters from Jakarta to the province to enable it to give a better service to the local people, Neraca reported on Monday.

"The demand represents the people?s aspiration made through the local legislative council," Paskalis Kossay, a member of the council was quoted as saying by the daily. He added that the council had also urged the provincial administration to ask the central government to pay a serious attention to the demand.

As the world?s second largest mining company, Freeport Indonesia which has produced tons of copper and gold from the province for years should also pay more attention to the welfare of the local people, he said, adding that the relocation of its headquarter to Papua would be needed to ensure that the operation of the mining giant would also be able to give a positive impact on the local economy.

He said that the implementation of the regional economy should give the local opportunity much more opportunity to speed up its economic development in the province, which has so far lagged behind from other parts of the country.

Under the regional economy, provinces including Papua , have more power to control and manage its economy including the development of its natural resources. (*)