Government Targets Completion of 2026 Mining Work and Budget Plan Approvals by End of March

Jakarta – The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) is targeting the completion of approvals for the 2026 Work Plans and Budget Plans (RKAB) for mineral and coal mining by the end of March 2026.

Tri Winarno, Director General of Mineral and Coal at the Ministry of ESDM, confirmed that his office will accelerate efforts to meet this deadline.

“The target remains end of March. Both companies and the government are actively engaged,” Tri stated during a meeting at the Ministry of ESDM office in Jakarta on Tuesday, 17 March 2026.

He noted that by mid-March, the government had already granted approval for RKAB covering approximately 400 million tonnes of coal this year and over 100 million tonnes of nickel.

“The target is to push ahead continuously,” he added.

The government cited challenges arising from the transition to a new application submission system. This transition requires adaptation to ensure that data uploaded by businesses synchronises properly within the system.

“Sometimes the new application can’t align everything properly. If it’s not active, then it won’t work,” he concluded.