PT Inco says it is committed to environment

Publicly-listed mining company PT Inco said it is committed to the proper management of environment at its area of mining operations and has so far allocated Rp 1.04 trillion for environmental management program during the 1ast 10 years, the Kompas newspaper reported in its Wednesday edition.

This was disclosed by Inco’s director of regional external relations Edi Suhardi on Tuesday in Makassar.

Edi was responding to the allegations of villagers that it was violating environmental regulations. The villagers, who were demanding for the withdrawal of Japanese investments from Inco, leveled the allegations against the company during a demonstration in front of the Japanese Consulate-General in Makassar.

According to Edi, Inco has all the technical data regarding all the activities related to the environmental management and it has been regularly reporting to the Office of the State Minister of Environment every three months.

Among the other things that have been reported by Inco are data regarding water quality, the level of dangerous materials like lead, manganese and nickel., which according to the audit report from the State Miniter of Environment far below the reasonable level.(*)