Export of Indonesian coal raw material should be reduced: official

News was prepared under the information support of Online Daily Newspaper on Hellenic and international Shipping "Hellenic Shipping News".

31 Aug 2009

Coal producing companies should reduce the volume of their export of coal raw material and increase the volume of their finished coal exports, a mining official said. The Kotabaru head of the Mines and Energy affairs office, Akhmad Rivai said here on Saturday that export of the finished coal would bring about added value as well as give job opportunities to the local community.
"There will be much benefit if the coal is exported after being processed into the ready made goods for use," Rivai said.
Although this region has obtained royalty from the coal sale abroad, but the royalty value is not comparable with the risk of natural damage which become the regional spending burden, he said.
Earlier, Kotabaru regent H Sjachrani Mataja, said that the royalty and the Community Development program are not comparable with the bad impact of the mining activities faced by the regional administration.
"The coal mines caused massive impact, so if we (the local government) are not allowed to issue the regional rules of law, the central government is expected to tackle all problems arising such as the coal mining cases," Sjachrani Mataja said, adding that some 300 regional rulings will be nullified due to overlaping with the higher laws.
Meanwhile, Rivai said, with the endorsing of Law No.4/2009 about the minerals and coal mining in addition to substitute the law No.11/1967, this effort is also to increase the added value of the mine products.
"We also strongly support the statement of the Director of Environmental Engineering and Mineral, Coal and Geothermal, MS Marpaung who said it`s time to export the finished product," he said.
The mineral laws ban the export of raw materials and requires the processing.
Rivai said that until the second quarter of 2009 the number of coal export by PT Arutmin Indonesia and PT Bahari Cakrawala Sebuku (BCS) reached 2.7 million tons.
PT Arutmin produced 1.8 million tons and the rest made by PT BCS totaling 858 thousand tons.Japan and South Korea are major importers of the South Kalimantan coal products.

Source: Antara News