S. Sumatra coal miners suffer deep losses due to road ban

By Cepi Setiadi

Coal miners in Lahat, South Sumatra, are estimated to have suffered about Rp 15 billion per day in financial losses since early this year after the local provincial administration bans the use of public road for coal transport.

Secretary General of the South Sumatra Coal Mining Association, Sutarman, told Petromindo.com on Friday that the special coal hauling road developed and operated by a private company is not yet entirely ready, thus causing the local coal miners to be unable to deliver their coal output to the jetty ports.

He said that the association has 52 members, of which 13 coal mining companies are already in production stage, while the remainders are still in exploration stage.

"From these 13 companies, there are about 20,000 tons of coal per day which cannot be delivered to the jetty and just piling up at the mine sites," he said.

He added that the combined annual production from the 13 companies is about 7.5 million tons. Sutarman hopes there will be a solution regarding this matter. "Otherwise we are just waiting to collapse," he said.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak