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)