Megawati wants forest overlapping issue be resolved by end-June

President Megawati Sukarnoputri said Thursday she wanted the issue of mining projects overlapping with protected forest areas be resolved in a couple of months, according to Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro.

The President, chairing a cabinet meeting, instructed a special inter-ministerial team handling the issue to complete its tasks within three months.

?The President asked the team to complete its work by end-June, or three months from now,? Purnomo told reporters after the cabinet meeting.

?Final results of the study must be reported to the President as soon as possible,? the minister said.

The President also wants that the team give priority to forest areas suspected to overlap with mining concessions of 22 companies, Purnomo said.

The team, formed last year, includes officials from the office of coordinating minister for the economy, the ministry of forestry and the ministry of energy and mineral resources. It was given the task of studying forests in several provinces where a number of mining companies had carried out, and had planned to carry out, excavation and exploration activities.

The team will determine whether or not mining concessions awarded to the companies covered protected and conservation forests.

Controversies over the forest areas, which involved House members, began with the implementation of the current forestry law issued in 1999, Law No. 41 Year 1999, which bans open pit mining in protected forests.

The law affected 150 mining contracts, of which 22 were awarded before 1999. The 22 contracts were worth US$9 billion, combined, Purnomo said. (godang)