Lanna Harita regrets Samarinda Council?s ?decision? to suspend activity

Coal mining firm PT Lanna Harita Indonesia (LHI) regrets the ?decision? of the Samarinda legislative council in East Kalimantan to request the local administration to temporarily suspend the company?s trial mining activity in a disputed 60 ha plot of land.

The Metro Balikpapan daily quoted LHI spokesman Bachtiar as saying that the lawmakers should have hear from the company first before taking such a drastic decision, adding that LHI has appealed to the council to annul the plan.

He said that LHI had spend a great deal of time and cost to process the necessary licenses to exploit the site, and that the trial mining activity was part of the company?s overall business program.

He pointed out that LHI would suffer some Rp 500 million (US$1=Rp 9,980) per day if the trial mining activity was halted.

The council made the decision earlier this year, arguing that the activity could resume once the land dispute with a group of local cooperatives had been settled. The cooperatives have claimed ownership on the land.

The council also planned to set up a special team to help resolve the case.

LHI has insisted that it has freed the land from its owners by paying compensation, and has authentic legal documents.(*)