Government Urged to Evaluate Environmental Management of Mining Operations Following Flooding at IMIP
JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com - Member of Commission IV of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Robert J. Kardinal, has urged the government to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of mining management to prevent a recurrence of the flooding that claimed lives in the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP) area, Morowali Regency, Central Sulawesi.
The government is also asked to investigate the relationship between river basin conditions, mining activities, and the effectiveness of environmental permit supervision in the area.
“If there are casualties in a strategic industrial area, it means there is a serious problem in environmental management. This should be a national alarm so that events like this do not continue to repeat,” Robert said in a statement on Wednesday (February 25, 2026).
Robert said that similar incidents at IMIP were not the first time.
He mentioned that a similar incident occurred on March 22, 2025, where three workers were buried in a landslide in the IMIP area, and two of them died.
The Golkar Party politician assessed that the government and business actors should focus on prevention efforts, for example, by managing river basins sustainably to reduce the risk of flooding and landslides, especially in areas with high mining activity.
In addition, Robert also encouraged the government to conduct a comprehensive environmental audit in the IMIP area and its surroundings to be used as the basis for formulating measurable corrective steps.
The audit includes mapping critical land, erosion levels, water holding capacity, and identification of active mining areas and former mining areas that have not been optimally rehabilitated.
“With accurate data, the government can establish appropriate and targeted prevention policies and not just be temporary,” he said.
Robert reminded that every mining industrial area is required to have spatial planning that takes into account environmental carrying capacity, drainage capacity, and watershed management.
Robert also requested an evaluation of the implementation of environmental permits to be tightened, not only stopping at document verification, but also ensuring that the implementation of rehabilitation and environmental management is truly running in the field according to technical standards.
“If rehabilitation is not carried out properly, then the permit must be evaluated. Law enforcement must be firm so that similar incidents do not recur,” he said.
Quoted from Antara, the Head of the Center for Data, Information and Disaster Communication of the BNPB, Abdul Muhari, confirmed that a landslide occurred in the operational area and caused a worker to be buried in material until he was found dead.
In addition to casualties, a number of heavy equipment were also reported to have been buried due to the land movement.
Based on updated data as of Thursday (February 19, 2026), the SAR team managed to find victims and the identification process was carried out, and then the bodies were immediately handed over to the families.
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