W. Java to revoke around 200 IUP mining licenses
Saturday, December 16 2017 - 02:46 AM WIB
The paper quoted Acting Head of the Energy and Mining Office at the provincial administration, Eddy M. Nasution as saying that the office has recommended 50 IUPs to be revoked by the provincial administration?s investment office. These include mines whose IUPs have expired and are no longer active.
He said that around 200 IUPs in the provinces are considered to be ?problematic,? meaning that the miners have failed to meet exiting regulations including paying financial obligations such as royalty to the state. As such, the IUPs are not in the C&C category as defined by the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources.
The ministry has demanded for non-C&C IUPs to be revoked, and according to existing law, provincial administrations hold the authority in revoking the IUPs. But the process to revoke the problematic IUPs has been progressing at a snail?s pace, hampering the central government?s years of efforts to resolve the country?s chaotic mining sector.
According to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), some 2,509 IUPs of the more than 9,000 IUPs are in the non-C&C category. Related ministries and government institutions have recently agreed that they would no longer provide services to mining companies which are still in non-C&C category starting next year, which would cause the mines to be unable to continue production or export activities.
The problematic IUPs emerge following the aggressive issuance of mining licenses by local regency and mayoralty administrations in the past to help finance their new autonomous power. The local governments issued the IUPs without proper regard to existing regulations, resulting in many concessions to be overlapping including with forest areas, and resulting in many miners to operate without complete legal documents, which in turn have given them ?opportunities? to avoid paying financial obligations to the state properly. (*)