BIDA loses licensing for sand operations
JAKARTA (JP): The Ministry of Mines and Energy has taken over the licensing of sand quarrying operations off Batam island and its neighboring isles in Riau province from the Batam Industrial Development Authority (BIDA).
Ministry spokesman Budi Sulistiyo said on Friday that the Ministry took over the quarrying licensing on July 7 this year and President BJ Habibie, who formerly chaired BIDA, had approved the change through a presidential decree issued on Aug. 1 this year.
He said Minister of Mines and Energy Kuntoro Mangkusubroto had ordered all sand quarrying and dredging companies operating in the area to renew their licenses with the ministry's Directorate General of Mining by Jan. 6 next year.
There are currently five companies operating in Batam and its surroundings with 169,480 hectares of contract areas.
The companies are PT Citra Harapan Abadi which has a quarrying contract on 7,738 hectares, PT Equator Reka Citra having 12 contract areas covering 65,980 hectares, PT Barelang Sugi Bulan holding four contract areas totaling 50,702 hectares.
Others are PT Bumi Samudra Argomegah with one contract area of 19,250 hectares and PT Batamatma Mandrasakti with one contract area of 25,910 hectares.
Budi did not reveal the owners of the companies.
According to Budi, the companies have quarried 312.6 million cubic meters from the area up to July this year, giving BIDA S$287.6 million (US$165.2 million) in royalties.
All the sand was exported to Singapore.
Budi said the ministry had thus far awarded 62 licenses for sand exploration outside Batam and nearby islands, but work had started at only five of the locations.
The five companies have quarried 52.18 million tons of sand since 1997, giving the government Rp 10.15 billion (about $923,000) in royalties.
Sand exploration licenses are valid for two years but can be extended another year.
Sand production licenses last for 30 years but can be extended twice for a period of 10 years each time.
The ministry also issues sand transportation and marketing licenses which are effective for 10 years but can be extended twice for five years each time. (jsk)