JAKARTA, KOMPAS – The completion of around 3,000 mineral and coal mining business licenses has been delayed due to the regents’ reluctance to hand over IUP personnel, infrastructure, financing and documents (P3D) to the governor. The Ministry of Home Affairs is urged to impose sanctions on regions which hamper the completion of the problematic IUP.
According to the Chairman of the National Movement Team to Save Natural Resources, the Prevention of Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Dian Patria, in Jakarta, Tuesday (30/8), the impact of the regents’ reluctance to submit licensing data was that the governor was unable to use his authority to give warnings, shrink , or revoking the IUP has a problem.
Based on KPK data, from 10,172 mining IUPs, there were 3,966 IUPs with problems in February 2016. The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, the Ministry of Home Affairs, and the KPK agreed to resolve the problematic IUPs on May 12, 2016 (Kompas, 16/2). The IUP has problems, among other things, because the issuance of multiple IUPs in the same area, IUPs with invalid addresses, IUPs in protected or conservation forest areas, or IUP holders do not have a taxpayer identification number (NPWP).
The Governor has got the authority to resolve problematic IUPs, including revoking them, in Act Number 23 of 2014 concerning Regional Government. This provision was also strengthened through Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Regulation No. 43 of 2015 concerning Evaluation Procedures for the Issuance of Mineral and Coal Mining Business Permits. However, as of August 2016, there were 3,772 IUP problems.
Previously, the authority to issue and revoke IUPs was with the district head.
According to Dian Patria, there were only about 1,000 problematic IUPs reported by regents to the governor for further action. However, there are also regents who have reported, but the governor has not taken action against the IUP holder.
“They are holding on to Law No. 4/2009 (regarding Minerba) that the authority is in the regent. So, they clash with the Mining Law with the Regional Government Law, “Dian said.
In addition, he said, there were also regents who argued that the limit on submission of IUP data fell in October 2016, in accordance with the provisions of Law No. 23/2014. Dian suspected that there was also a district head who was delaying the submission of data because he was awaiting a judicial review submitted to the Constitutional Court to cancel the transfer of IUP authority from the regent to the governor. Therefore, he hoped that the Ministry of the Interior, which has a coaching function, could encourage them to immediately report the IUP. “There must be cooperation (between stakeholders). It is also well known that there are cases (the mine is handled by the KPK). It is not impossible that there are initial supporting data and (similar cases) can appear in other areas, “said Dian.
Political costs
The KPK recently set Southeast Sulawesi Governor Nur Alam as a suspect in a corruption case of 3,084 hectares of nickel mining permits in Bombana and Buton districts to PT Anugrah Harisma Barakah (AHB) in 2009-2014. He allegedly received a kick back or commission.
Merah Johansyah Ismail, National Coordinator of the Mining Advocacy Network (Jatam) added, the lack of regents who reported IUP data was problematic because of political motives. According to him, it is no longer a secret that some regents are using mining permits to support their political costs during regional elections so they are reluctant to submit data to the governor.
Maryati Abdullah, National Coordinator of Publish What You Pay Indonesia, encouraged the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources to take control of problematic IUPs if within the specified time limit, the district or city government did not also complete the P3D handover to the provincial government. (GAL)
Source: Kompas Newspaper (8/31/2016)
In Media, Media Coverage | PWYP Indonesia | August 31st , 2016