Govt takes over management of coal royalties

JAKARTA (JP): The government will take over the management of the 13.5-percent royalty of coal mining contractors from the state coal mining company PT Tambang Batubara Bukit Asam (PTBA).

"The takeover, which is aimed at improving efficiency, will enable PTBA to concentrate on its plan to sell shares on the capital market early next year," Director General of Mines Kuntoro Mangkusubroto said here yesterday.

The royalty, worth of over two million tons of coal per year, is thus far submitted to PTBA either in cash or in coal.

Kuntoro said that PTBA was previously allowed to use coal of the royalty to secure supplies for the coal-fired power station in Suralaya, West Java, which has a generation capacity 1,600 megawatts (MW).

"After the government's takeover of the royalty management, coal contractors can now sell their products by themselves and pay their royalties to the government's treasurer in cash," he said.

Kuntoro said that the takeover will not affect PTBA's coal supplies for the Suralaya power station because the company plans to increase its annual capacity to over 10 million tons this year from eight million tons in 1993. (fhp)