Miners told to build roads

JAKARTA (JP): South Kalimantan legislators have called on the local government to maintain a ruling which bans coal producers from using public roads to transport coal.

"The ban is needed to protect the public roads from serious damage," the head of the local legislative council, Mansyah Add, said at the provincial capital of Banjarmasin on Friday.

Since the regional government applied the ruling on January 1, more than 400,000 tons of coal worth some Rp 40 billion (US$5.4 million) could not be transported to local ports for export, according to news agency Antara.

The provincial administration issued the ruling following complaints from locals saying that coal trucks dominated public roads, bullied other motorists and caused air pollution. The mining companies are required to build their own roads to transport their coal.

So far, PT Adaro Indonesia and PT Hasnur have their own coal transportation roads, whereas public roads are often used by illegal mining companies. (bkm)