Kalimantan governments ready to revoke problematic bylaws

The provincial administrations of East Kalimantan and Central Kalimantan have vowed to revoke hundreds of bylaws deemed to be unfriendly to investors, Kompas reported on Thursday.

Awang Farouk Ishak, the governor of the East Kalimantan province said he had instructed regents and mayors during a recent coordinating meeting to withdraw all local regulations deemed to be unfriendly to investors and those considered in contrary with the existing national laws and regulations.

Awang said that many regulations issued by regents and mayors in East Kalimantan had caused a high-cost economy to investors willing to invest in the regions. But he refused to mention the names of regencies which produced the most problematic regulations.

A problematic regulation refers to a regulation issued by the local government, and running counter to the existing regulations and laws. They are mostly issued by the local governments to collect levy from business activities in their areas.

According to a recent survey, East Kalimantan is the fourth biggest province with problematic regulations.

Central Kalimantan Governor Agustin Teras Narang said that there were 135 problematic regulations found in the province, and most of them were issued by local regency authorities.

?I will review all the problematic regulations. If there are ones that conflict with the existing regulations, I will revoke them,? he said.

East Kalimantan and Central Kalimantan provinces have huge mining resources, especially coal. (*)