Mining authority should be handed over to provincial administration

The Association of the Indonesian Mining Experts (Parhepi) has called on the central government to delegate most of the mining authority to the government in the provincial level rather than to the regency level as stipulated in the Regional Autonomy Law, which will become effective next year.

The association chairman Herman Afif Kusumo said in Jakarta on Wednesday that such a change was essential to avoid conflicts over the control and the authority of a mining concession, which often stretches out in more than one regency.

Herman said the difference in the mining policy imposed in the same mining concession would certainly cause a confusion among mining operators because they would not only be required to follow different mining regulations but also had to report their operations to different government offices.

The autonomy law, which will be fully implemented beginning next year would authorize the government in the regency level to take most of the mining control in their area currently held by the central government through the ministry of mine and energy and the provincial administration, in this case the governor of respecive province.

As the consequence, mining operators whose concessions overlap areas of different regencies will have to follow different policies in all aspects of their activities.

Herman said to avoid such difficulties and more importanly in order prevent conflicts among the authorities in the regency levels, it will be wiser if the control over the mining activities is given to the government in the provincial level or governor. (*)