Govt weighs on plan to control coal production

The government is weighing on a plan to control coal production to ensure sustainable coal supply for the local buyers especially state owned electrcity company PLN, Investor Daily reported on Wednesday.

Director General of mineral and coal at the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, Thamrin Sihite said that at present his office could monitor the national coal production through the production plans submitted by coal mining companies.

But, he said, the government has so far had no legal instrument to limit the production. ?In the future, the government will issue a regulation as the legal basis to control coal production,? he said. ?But, the regulation will be issued only after we have assessed the existing coal production level,? he added.

According to him, the government has not possessed reliable data on coal production level. At present, the ministry can only obtain production data reported by PKP2B contractors whose mining permits were issued by the central government. He said that his office does not have the production data of coal miners whose IUP permits were issued by the local governments.

Last year, total coal production reached 386 million tons. About 304 million tons were exported and the other 82 million tons were sold domestically. This year, total production is expected to reach 391 million tons. About 306 million tons will be exported and the remaining 85 million tons will be allocated for the domestic market.(*)