Jakarta (ANTARA News) - A consistent rise in new car sales during the first six months of this year despite a hike in fuel prices has raised hopes that full year sales could revisit record levels, an industry official said on Monday. Annual new car sales hit an all-time high of 534,000 in 2005, before tumbling to 318,904 in 2006 after the government hiked fuel prices by an average of 126 percent in the last quarter of 2005.

An ongoing dispute between the central and local governments over the disbursement of authority to manage licenses for mining operations is unlikely to be resolved any time soon, the Jakarta Post daily on Monday reported. The country's mining sector has been plagued by overlapping mining regulations and weak coordination between central and local authorities. "There is discontinuity between the implementation of the Law on Mining and the Law on Regional Autonomy.

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - State oil and gas company Pertamina has set itself a target of becoming a non-publicly listed company in 2009 at the latest following the conclusion of an audit on its financial conditions. "Preparations for turning Pertamina into a non-publicly listed company are underway," Pertamina President Director Ari H Soemarno said in Magelang, Central Java, on Saturday.

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesia's cement consumption during the first half of 2008 surged 21 percent from a year ago supported by growing construction activities, a producer association report showed on Monday. Data from the Indonesian Cement Association (ASI) said nationwide cement consumption reached 18.89 million tonnes in the first half against 15.6 million tonnes a year earlier.