KPC agrees to meet East Kalimantan legislators

The giant coal mining company PT Kaltim Prima Coal (KPC) in East Kalimantan has agreed to meet a special team of the provincial parliament, the local Radar Kaltim daily reported Tuesday.

The paper quoted KPC external relations officer Husein Akma as saying that the legislators wanted to obtain certain information from the company, and KPC would provide them as long as they?re not considered as confidential data.

Several legislators had earlier expressed disappointment over KPC?s attitude of not responding to the parliament?s letter requesting for a meeting. But Husein said that this was merely a problem of miscommunication.

?We (KPC) are ready to meet the parliament special team,? he said, adding that the meeting is scheduled to take place on July 5.

KPC is a jointly owned by Rio Tinto and BP. The company is required to immediately divest up to 51 percent stake to the local East Kalimantan administration. But the local administration has yet to reach agreement on the price with the company, which has initially tried to reject the divestment demand.

Radar Kaltim did not say the mission of the special team, but earlier reports said that the team was formed following allegation that KPC had manipulated its production and export data.

Legislator Andi Harun said that the special team would seek information about the history of KPC including it started its production, and also production data since the start until the latest. He added that the special team would also ask about the company?s community development program.(*)