Mining activities in Eastern Indonesia should be continued: Kasiepo

State Minister for Development of Eastern Indonesia Manuel Kasiepo has called other government agencies to settle the controversies related to the status of mining areas in protected forests so that all mining activities in eastern provinces could be continued, Neraca reported on Friday.

Kasiepo said that mining activities should not be halted only due to different interpretation in the function of protected forests given their significant contribution to the local people.

?Only from Halmahera and Gak island, we received more than Rp 2 billion. It is much higher than those we received from International Monetary Funds (IMF),? he said. The development of mining areas also helped open the isolation to remote areas, he added.

The new forestry law introduced by the government last year prohibits open-fit mining operations in protected forests. This law has drawn controversies because many mining concession areas awarded to mining companies overlap with the protected forests. As a result many mining companies have been forced to halt their operation.

Kasiepo said that there should be a wise solution in determining the status of mining concessions which overlap with conservation areas. ?Mining concessions overlapping with conservation areas is mostly grown by wild grass,? he said. (*)