Perhapi supports govt plan to revise mining law

The association of Indonesian mining experts (Perhapi) has expressed its support to the government's plan to revise the country's Mining Law especially on stipulations related to the awarding of the contracts of works to mining companies, Astaga.com reported on Tuesday.

"We agree and fully support the government's plan to modify or revise the mining law as long as the change still gives a win-win solution to investors," the association's chairman Herman Afif Kusomo said in a media briefing on Monday.

Herman said that the nature of the contracts of works is no longer relevant to the government's policy because under the autonomy law, which will be fully implemented beginning next year, most of the authority in the development of the country's mineral resources would be transferred to provincial administrations.

"The context is different now because when the autonomy law is implemented, the policy in the development of the mining sector will be determined by local administrations," he said. Herman also suggested the government to clarify the status of the contracts of works in the new mining law.

According to him, the contracts of works which are now given to mining companies to carry out their activities could be categorized as "lex specialist law" and they, therefore, could not be over ruled by other law.

The association said that in the future, the operation of a mining company would be better based on a presidential decree rather than by the works of contracts as adopted at present.

The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources is preparing a new mining law to replace the Law No: 11, 19967 which regulates every aspects of the country's mineral resources. Under the current law, the operation of a mining company is based on a contract of works, which is issued by the government upon approval from the House of Representatives (DPR). (*)