Govt prepares incentives for mining investment

The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources is preparing strategy and programs that will provide incentives for investors that will invest in the general mining sector.

Director General of General Mining at the ministry, Surna Tjahja Djajaningrat, said that with the new incentives and various facilities for investors, investment in the mining sector should increase and contribute to economic growth.

"For that purposes, I was asked by the minister of energy and mineral resources to devise a strategy and programs to develop and increase investment in the general mining sector," Surna said in Jakarta on Tuesday.

However, he declined to state when the incentives would be introduced for investors, noting that the draft rules would be submitted to the minister before being made into regulations.

Surna only stated that the programs would apply only for new investors or existing investors that wanted to make new investment.

He noted that the new incentives were expected to drive up investment in the mining sector that had been stagnant for the last couple of years due to economic crisis. Because of the stagnant level of investment, national mineral output tended to decline.

National coal production level for this year, for instance, will not reach the target of 84.5 million tons, as national coal output in the first six months of this year only reached 34.07 million tons. If there were no significant investment and improvement in production, Surna predicted that coal production for the whole year would only reach 68 million tons. (*)