Govt to maintain control over main mineral resources

The central government will still maintain the authority over the country's main mineral resources such as gold, coal and copper although the provincial administrations will have a larger power to manage their own mineral resources when the autonomy law is implemented next year, a legislator has said.

Pramono Agung, a member of the House of Representatives (DPR), said in Jakarta on Thursday that the central government's control over the main mineral resources would be stipulated in a government regulation to be issued as part of the implementation of the Autonomy Law, and the Inter-governmental Financial Balance Law next year.

He acknowledged that the government's control over the main mineral resources was against the spirit of the Autonomy Law. "The government has no choice but to maintain the full authority in the main mineral resources because more than 90 percent of the local administrations have not been ready to take over such power due to the lack of skilled human resources," he was quoted as saying by Bisnis Indonesia.

According to him, only three provinces, Riau, East Kalimantan and Irian Jaya which have been prepared enough to take over the authority in managing mineral resources because, unlike other provinces, the three provinces have the financial capability to recruit skilled workers from other provinces. (*)