Jakarta, Petrominer – The election of Bambang Gatot as Director General of Minerals and Coal (Minerba), Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, gives new hope to the national mining sector. The new official was reminded to prioritize a number of homeworks that were still pending to be completed.

The focus in the Minerba sector includes the downstreaming and enhancement of mining value added, renegotiation of Contracts of Work (KK), as well as structuring mining permits and enforcing environmental and social standards from mining activities. The Director General of Mineral and Coal must immediately complete the renegotiation process of the KK and the Coal Mining Concession Work Agreement (PKP2B) in a transparent and accountable manner.

“The renegotiation is mainly related to 6 strategic issues: the scope of the work area; continuation of mining operations; state revenue; processing and refining obligations; divestment readiness; the obligation to use domestic workers, goods and mining services, “said Advocacy and Network Manager, Publish What You Pay (PWYP) Indonesia, Aryanto Nugroho, Sunday (10/5).

Aryanto said, until the renegotiation deadline given Law No. 4/2009 on Minerba, it turned out that only 1 KK signed the amendment, 20 KK and 21 PKP2B agreed and signed the MOU, 8 KK and 12 PKP2B still agreed on part of the contents of the MOU and 5 KK and 9 new PKP2B agreed to the draft of the amendment of a total 34 KK and 73 PKP2B.

Related to mining governance problems, PWYP Indonesia asserted, the Government must immediately complete the arrangement of 4,296 Mining Business Licenses (IUP) which are still in Non-CNC status, overlapping mining areas with forest and plantation areas until monitoring the implementation of reclamation and post-mining guarantees. The non-tax state revenue (PNBP) in the mining sector were not yet optimal, both from royalties and land rent must also get attention.

Based on the calculation of PWYP Indonesia, the potential for lost from land rent payments in 2009-2013 in 12 provinces alone reached Rp 919.18 billion. In addition, the new Director General of Mineral and Coal must also continue to collaborate with the KPK which has been running well in coordination and supervision in the Minerba sector.

Source: www.swarakalibata.com