Ban on sand exports to come soon: Minister

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Minister of Trade and Industry Rini M. Soewandi said on Thursday that the government would ban the export of sea sand from Riau province to Singapore because the sand exports did not bring much benefit to Indonesia.

She said the companies involved in sand extraction and export had agreed to the ban.

"We (the government and sand companies) have agreed to temporarily ban the sea sand exports to Singapore until the sand quarrying activities are improved," Rini was quoted by Antara as saying in the Riau capital of Pekanbaru.

The minister was visiting the province, which is the country's main sand exporter, to directly inspect sand quarrying activities there.

She was accompanied by, among others Army Chief of Staff Endriarto Sutanto and Navy Commander Indroko Sastrowiryono, during the visit.

Rini said the government would make the ban effective in the near future but there was not yet any decision regarding the length of the ban.

According to Rini, sand quarrying activities in Riau had gotten out of control as several agencies had been issuing licenses for the activities.

The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources had issued several licenses, while under the Autonomy Law, the rights to issue such licenses lie with provincial government, Rini said.

Sudar SA, director general for foreign trade at the ministry earlier said that the ban of sea sand exports was aimed at curbing rampant illegal sand extraction in the province to help prop up the price of the commodity.

He said that illegal sand extraction from coastal areas of Riau had caused severe environmental damage and led to the disappearance of a number of small islets in the province.

The sand is mostly exported to Singapore to support the construction sector and coastal reclamation projects.

The price of the sand has fallen lately due to the slump in the Singapore construction industry.

Rini said that the government would soon meet with the Singaporean government about the plan and ask them to also stop the sand exports.

"We (Both Indonesian and Singapore government) will participate in supervising the implementation of the ban," she said.