Mining permit in HST to be based on regent decree

The Hulu Sungai Tengah (HST) legislative council in South Kalimantan has approved the local regent proposal to issue mining permit based only on regent decree instead of government regulation, according to the Banjarmasin Post daily.

The paper said on Wednesday that issuing a regent decree would take a much shorter time than government regulation. It said that this should help curb illegal mining activity in the area.

The mining permit is usually given to local miners particularly those group in cooperatives.

But the paper quoted some council members as saying that they actually preferred that the mining license was regulated by government regulation, not regent decree, in a bid to ensure transparency.

Some members regretted the decision by the council speaker to quietly approve the regent proposal.

?We won?t be responsible if there will be problems in the future,? said one disgruntled council member.(*)