Riau legislator supports ban on sea sand exports

PEKANBARU, Riau: A top Riau provincial legislator said on Saturday sea sand exports from the region must be stopped because the disadvantages of the trade far outweighed its advantages.

Zanzibar Nong, deputy chairman of the Riau provincial legislative assembly, said the income derived from sea sand mining and exports could not compensate the losses they caused.

"Sea sand mining and exports are believed to have caused environmental destruction and harmed the interests of local fishermen. In other words, they are more disadvantageous than beneficial and therefore must be stopped," he said.

Indonesia last year decided to stop sea sand exports after allowing them for decades. The exports mainly used to go to Singapore, which needed the sea sand to reclaim land from the sea. Singapore paid only US$1.5 per cubic meter.

A local community figure, Muhammad Buang, meanwhile also said he was strongly against sea sand mining and exports from the region because the activities had caused environmental damage.

Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Rokhmin Dahuri, after meeting with President Megawati Soekarnoputri on Friday, said he told the President the government should stick to the prohibition for the sake of the country's territorial integrity.

Meanwhile, Riau Governor Mohamad Rusli, who also met with the President to seek her support on the same day, urged the President to lift the complete ban on sand exports from Riau to Singapore, assuring her that he was ready with a more environmentally friendly sand quarrying system. -- Antara