Mining concessions areas for S. Kalimantan exceed the whole size of the province

Mining concessions areas granted by the government for mining activities in South Kalimantan exceed the total size of the province's land, according to the Indonesian Environmental Forum (Walhi).

Walhi's South Kalimantan coal mining coordinator Husin Nafarin said on Tuesday that total mining concession areas granted by the government for South Kalimantan total 5,095,126 hectares, while the total size of the province's land is only 3,753,052 hectares.

"This is crazy. The quota of coal mining areas exceeds the size of South Kalimantan land," Nafarin said, adding that the data was collected from the mining office of the South Kalimantan administration.

Walhi conducted a press conference in preparation to celebrate the international earth day, which falls on April 22.

Nafarin noted that out of the total areas of South Kalimantan land, 2,314,720 hectares should have been reserved for forests. Therefore, he said, Walhi demanded the government and local administration to review the mining licenses they granted for South Kalimantan, and take account the characteristics of the area, its environment and most of all involve local people in granting any mining licenses.

Meanwhile, the spokesman for the South Kalimantan administration, Hadi Susilo, said that it was impossible the mining concessions for the province exceeded the total size of the province's land. He suspected that Walhi was wrong in calculating the total acreage of the mining concessions.

Nevertheless, Hadi noted that the South Kalimantan administration never issued mining licenses, it only gave recommendation to the central government, which held the licensing right.