Local authorities demand Jakarta to implement regional autonomy as scheduled

The Governor of South Kalimantan Province Sjahriel Darham demanded on Tuesday the central governor to implement the regional autonomy measure in the mining sector early next year as scheduled.

Sjahriel told Petromindo.com that if Jakarta delayed the plan, South Kalimantan would move by its own to issue mining contracts to investors.

Sjahriel made the statement on the sidelines of a conference here in Jakarta.

Currently, the central government has the sole authority in the issuance of mining contracts to investors. The autonomy policy would transfer this authority to provincial, regency or mayoralty administrations.

The Regent of East Kutai, East Kalimantan Province, Awang Faroek also expressed similar opinion. He said that the region already had the necessary infrastructure to implement the regional autonomy in the mining sector starting January next year.

Reports said earlier that Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro had proposed to the Coordinating Minister for the Economy Rizal Ramli to implement the autonomy policy in the mining sector gradually because not all regions were ready.(*)