Nusa Riau coal mining firm awaits audit result

Riau-based mining firm PT Nusa Riau Kencana Coal should wait for the result of the audit which is now being conducted by the inspectorate general of forestry before it could resume its operation, according to the forestry office of the Riau provincial administration.

?The company is not allowed to continue the construction of the company?s road until the result of the audit is issued,? Fauzi Saleh, the head of the province?s forestry office, was quoted as saying by Bisnis Indonesia on Tuesday.

PT Nusa Riau was building a road on Rimbang Baling forest conservation area in the Kuansing regency to access its mining concession area. But the road construction was stopped by the Riau forestry office on fear that the road construction would encourage illegal logging activities on the protected forests.

Fauzi said that the provincial administration stopped the road construction in line with the new forestry law which bans road or mining development on protected forests. ?We have proposed the company to build another road which does not overlaps with the protected forests,? he said.

PT Nusa Riau operates a coal mining area of about 168 hectares, located near the Rimbang Baling forest conservation area. The company plans to use the coal from the mining area to feed its power plant.(*)