Ban on sand exports to come soon: Minister
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.