Local govt no longer allowed to issue mining permits

Local government will be no longer allowed to issue mining permits (IUPs) following the issuance of the 2009 mining law which has not been fully implemented, the director general of mineral and coal at the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, Thamrin Sihite said.

?In the future the awarding of mining rights would be carried through an auction,? Thamrin was quoted as saying by the Kontan business daily. He said that the auction of the mining rights would be still carried out by the local governments, but the exploration and production activities would be controlled by the central governments.

In order to be able to carry out supervision and controlling works more effectively, the government would divide the country?s mining areas into several mining clusters. ?The regulation on the mining clusters is now being drafted,? he said.

The mining clusters will comprise of UPT Sumatera with its headquarter in South Sumatra, UPT Java with its headquarter in East Java, UPT Kalimantan with its headquarter in East Kalimantan, UPT Nusa Tenggara with its headquarter in West Nusa Tenggara, UPT Maluku with its headquarter in North Maluku and UPT Papua with its headquarter in Papua, he said.

The central government will use the UPTs to control exploration and production activities in the country, he added. (*)