TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta:The Indonesian Mining Association’s executive director, Priyo Pribadi, believes the government’s investment target in the mineral and coal sector can be improved.
“The figure does not reflect the reality. Every year, there are thousands of new mines. There should be lots of new investment as well,” Priyo said last weekend.
The Energy Ministry has projected investments in the mineral and coal sector in 2011 will amount to US$3.2 billion. This is not too different from last year’s investment total of US$ 3.18 billion. Besides the investments, the government plans to increase mineral and coal production to meet international market demand.
According to Priyo, the investment value targeted by the government does not have a clear measurement. He even suggested there may be no new investments this year. “As no businessmen have submitted mining applications to the central government, investments this year remain unclear. Several mining companies have submitted applications to the provincial government, but this is not in line with the mineral and coal law,” he said.
The association calculated that this year’s investment could have been higher than the target. For instance, for the mining license arrangement (IUP) alone, the government could earn US$8 billion. “There are 8,000 IUPs currently. If one costs US$1 million, we could be earning US$8 billion,” Priyo said.
Mineral and Coal director general Bambang Setiawan admitted the investment target this year could be more than US$3.2 billion, as set by the government. “The target excludes the mining licenses in the provinces. If we include them, the value could reach US$5 billion,” he said.
In order to reach the target, Bambang plans to form an inventory team which will process and record the investment data in the provinces that have not been monitored properly. “We are not waiting for reports anymore. It is our turn to be proactive so that investment can be monitored and exceeded,” he said.
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