NTB warned to halt spread of "Dutch Disease"

West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) province should be able to halt the spread of the so called Dutch disease into its mineral resources so that the development of the resources would truly benefit the local people, a non-governmental organization has said.

Speaking at a seminar on mining development in Mataram on Saturday, the head of the Ecomine Nusa Lestara foundation, Rachman Wirosudarmo, said that the Dutch disease phenomena still continued to spread in all parts of the world particularly in developing countries where mining giants' main priorities were still placed on the exploitation of the resources, not the empowerment of the local people.

Rachman said that the development of the oil and mineral resources in Indonesia was no exception, citing that natural resources- rich provinces such as Riau, Kalimantan and Irian Jaya have become the victims of the so called Dutch disease.

Those provinces have contributed more than Rp 100 trillion (1US$=Rp 8,500) to the state revenues but their development still lagged behind other provinces, he said, citing that Riau raised at least Rp 50 trillion a year from its oil and other mineral resources but most of the people in the province still lived in poverty.

"Investors only think about the profits and the survival of their business," he was quoted as saying by Astaga.com. He added that the NTB people should not repeat the mistake to enable the locals to fully benefit from their natural resources. (*)