Samarinda parliament to complete debate on local mining regulations

Speaker of the Samarinda House of Representatives in East Kalimantan Fuad Arieph said on Tuesday that the parliament would start the debate process on four proposed local mining regulations after September 19, the local Kaltim Post reported.

Arieph said that until September 19, legislators would still be occupied making assessment on the accountability report of the Samarinda Mayor.

Arieph also said that the legislators were committed to immediately complete the debate on the four mining regulations.

The local Samarinda administration has proposed four mining regulations including two which would become a legal basis for the local mining cooperatives to mine the coal potential in the Sungai Siring area, in North Samarinda.

The cooperatives could not start their mining activity if the regulation has not been approved by the House.

The cooperatives had recently threatened to occupy the parliament to force legislators to immediately complete the debate on the four regulations.

There has been suspicion earlier that certain key legislators were deliberately making the delay to allow a new administration to propose new regulations which would accommodate the interest of a foreign investor to also mine the coal potential in the Sungai Siring area.

Fuad dismissed such suspicion. "Please believe me that we are fighting for the people here." (*)