S. Sumatra miners asked to use railway to transport coal

South Sumatra governor Alex Noerdin refused to meet requests from coal miners to transport their coal through public roads despite massive protests from mining firms, Kompas reported on Saturday.

Speaking in Palembang, Alex said that the coal miners should use the railway to transport their coal because using public roads would incite strong protests from the public. The governor said that the transportation capacity of the existing coal trains would be increased so that miners could increase coal delivery through the railway.

?There will be additional coaches so that transportation capacity can be increased by up to one million tons a year,? he said, adding that the additional coaches would be operated in three months.

Hundreds of coal trucks have parked near the governor?s office since early this week demanding the local government to allow them to use public roads.

The local government banned coal trucks to use public roads early in January following the protests from the public.

The trucks are then asked to use a 248km hauling road specially built for coal transportation. However, the road cannot be used for the last several days because of flooding which inundated most of areas along the road. (*)