Ministry hopes to complete next week 2017 coal work plan and budget

By Thomas Sembiring

Petromindo

The Directorate General of Mineral and Coal at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources said that evaluation process of the 2017 work plan and budget (better known under the local acronym of RKAB) proposed by coal miners in the country has reached 90 percent of progress and is expected to be completed next week.

?(The evaluation process) is nearly completed, only 10 percent remaining,? said Director General of Mineral and Coal Bambang Gatot Ariyono on Tuesday, but did not provide further details.

The RKAB includes among others production target proposed by the coal miners.

Bambang was quoted as saying earlier this week that coal miners have proposed a combined coal production target of 489 million tons for this year, which is higher than the 413 million tons target set in the 2015-2019 National Medium Term Development Plan (or also known as RPJM).

Bambang explained that coal miners are enticed to boost production this year in the wake of recent recovery in the coal price to help reduce losses suffered in the previous years. He also said that plenty of miners holding the so-called IUP mining business permits are set to start production this year.

He said that the government is considering to revise the annual production target set in the RPJM as it has often exceeded by the miners, and is likely to be repeated again this year. He added that the government would also benefit from higher royalty if coal production increases.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak