Kutai leaders demand financial aid from KPC

Traditional community leaders in Kutai, East Kalimantan and the province’s IPDP youth organization have demanded coal mine operator PT Kaltim Prima Coal (KPC) to provide financial assistance to the local people.

Representatives of the traditional community leaders and the IPDP organization, H. Pital and Iwansyah, said that KPC had ignored the welfare of the local people despite their strong support to the company’s mining operation in the province.

Based on that reason, the organization sent a letter recently to KPC management recently, asking the company to give 0.25 percent of the proceeds obtained from last year's sale of the shares of KPC’s founders to national company PT Bumi Resources.

Iwansyah said that the demand was made because the company had not given any assistance to the local people since it started operation in the province.

KPC’s general manager for external affairs and sustainable development, Harry Sony Miarsono denied the charges that the company had paid no attention to the local people’s welfare.

He said that KPC’s financial assistance to the local community had showed a significant increase from year to year. At present, the financial assistance given to the local community had reached US$5 million from only about US$1.5 million in the early stage of its operation. (*)