South Kalimantan may relax ruling on illegal coal mining
Thursday, August 23 2001 - 03:02 AM WIB
The South Kalimantan administration may relax ruling on illegal coal mining activity in the whole part of the province, according to the local Banjarmasin Post daily.
The paper said Thursday that such a possibility emerged after the Kotabaru regency administration, which had previously relaxed the ruling, discussed its new policy with the provincial administration Wednesday.
The paper said that the provincial administration may finally allow other regencies to also relax the ruling on illegal mining to avoid discrimination accusation.
The Kotabaru regency administration has recently allowed coal produced by illegal miners to be exported as long as the trader pays a fee of Rp 15,000 (US$1=Rp 8,500) per ton of coal being exported.
The administration claims that the policy ease would only be temporary to deplete the existing stock of illegal coal.(*)