Freeport told to respond to concerns

Freeport told to respond to concerns

TIMIKA, Irian Jaya (JP): President Soeharto has urged PT
Freeport Indonesia, an American copper and gold mining company,
to respond to recent concerns about the environmental impact of
its huge operation in Irian Jaya.

While praising the contribution Freeport has made to the
Indonesian economy as well as to the development of Irian Jaya,
Soeharto said yesterday that the government would not tolerate
mining activities that damaged the environment and endangered
people's lives.

"Environmental conservation is important for our present lives
and for the future of the next generation," he said while
inaugurating a new town near Timika, the town from which Freeport
runs its huge copper mining business.

Soeharto named the new town, built on an area of 17,750
hectares, Kuala Kencana. When fully completed in the middle of
next year, it will be able to accommodate up to 20,000 people.

The US$400-million town was built chiefly for Freeport
employees and their families. Its facilities include elementary
and high school buildings, sports facilities -- swimming pool,
football stadium, badminton, tennis and squash courts -- a
mosque, a church, shopping centers and recreational facilities,
including a cinema.

The President also inaugurated the expansion of Freeport's
copper concentrate processing plant, located some 3,000 meters
above sea level, and a sophisticated laboratory to monitor the
environmental impact of Freeport's entire mining activities.

Freeport, a unit of New Orleans-based Freeport McMoran Copper
and Gold Corp, has been in the spotlight recently amidst
allegations that its operations in Indonesia were harming the
environment and endangering the lives of the local people.

Last month, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, a
U.S. federal agency, canceled $100 million in political risk
insurance for Freeport, reportedly because of environmental
problems with the company's mining operations.

Soeharto commended Freeport yesterday for building the new
environmental laboratory, stressing that the governments' concern
for environmental conservation reflected its own interests and
was not the result of foreign pressure.

He underlined the need for Freeport to secure the support of
the local people in order to sustain its operations. "The absence
of people's support will obstruct the mining operations,"
Soeharto said.

He also told the Irian Jaya provincial administration to make
the most of Freeport's presence in the area to support economic
development in the region and not allow the mining operations to
become an exclusive enclave.

"The provincial administration has a duty to ensure a balance
between development in this new town and its surroundings.
Without proper handling, there could be a stark disparity between
the lives of the people in this new town and those living around
it," he said.

Soeharto said that Freeport had made an immense contribution
to the economic development of Indonesia, particularly Irian
Jaya.

"Freeport has been a pioneer in Irian Jaya's development
program. It helped end the province's isolation from other parts
of Indonesia," Soeharto said.

Freeport was the first foreign company to sign up after
Indonesia enacted its 1967 foreign investment law.

The company secured its operating license in that same year
and President Soeharto visited the mining site in 1973 and gave
the name Tembagapura to the area that has since become a booming
town.

Tembagapura is now the site where a number of other companies
are setting up operations to tap the riches of Irian Jaya. The
four-star Timika Sheraton, where Soeharto and his entourage
stayed the previous night, was opened this year.

Freeport has also built vital infrastructure in Irian Jaya,
including roads and electricity and telecommunications
facilities.

The company now employs 15,000 workers, while an estimated
50,000 others work for Freeport contractors and suppliers.

Soeharto described Freeport's operations as a vital economic
project, given the huge investment that has gone into it and the
job opportunities that it has created for Indonesian workers.
(alx/imn)