Legislator appeases provinces over geothermal resources bill

The bill on geothermal resources to be deliberated by the government and the parliament (DPR) will not inflict losses upon provinces, Bisnis Indonesia daily quoted a senior legislator as saying Monday.

"The law is meant to optimize the utilization of geothermal resources," said Iwan Prayitno, chairman of DPR's Commission VIII in charge of energy and mineral resources.

The bill, which is being drafted by the DPR, will transfer the rights of provinces in collecting taxes from the geothermal sector to the central government.

West Java provincial governor R. Nuriana earlier complained about the bill, saying that the province would manage its own geothermal resources. West Java has abundant geothermal resources.

The government and DPR had started deliberating the geothermal resources bill in February.

The bill contains some crucial points like the obligations of investors and the division of revenues from the geothermal sector between the central government and the provinces.

The bill says that the central government and provincial governments have authority to issue licenses to geothermal energy investors.

Some 40 percent of the world?s geothermal resources are found in Indonesia. (*)