South Sumatra to have its own regional government-owned company

The South Sumatra province will soon establish its regional government-owned company (BUMD) in charge of managing local mining reserves in anticipation to the planned implementation of the regional autonomy, the Berita Buana daily reported on Saturday.

"Through the establishment of BUMD we will be able to take part in the management of production sharing contracts in South Sumatra," South Sumatra Governor Rosihan Arsyad said in Jakarta on Thursday.

Rosihan said that besides establishing BUMD, the South Sumatra province is also exploring the possibility of taking over old and unproductive oil wells from state oil company Pertamina or other private companies in the area.

"The local people only want to improve their welfare from the exploitation of the natural resources in the area? not more than that," he said.

The South Sumatra residents, Rosihan said, have questioned as to where the results of the large-scale natural resources exploitation go, he said, Even though the local people feel that they are faced with uncertainty, they still want to be cooperative in building the local potential. "They frequently ask where do the results of the exploitation go?" he said.

Through the active participation of the local people, they can get not only their shares but also can learn from it. "Therefore, they will no longer be given only the wastes of the exploitation processes," he said.

Commenting the possibility of Bangka and Belitung islands, which are rich of tin ores, to be separated from South Sumatra and become an independent province, Rosihan said that he has no objection to the plan. (*)