Trade minister issues decree limiting sand exports to Singapore
Trade minister issues decree limiting sand exports to Singapore
Adianto P. Simamora and Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Ministry of Trade and Industry has issued a new decree
restricting sand exports from Riau province to Singapore over the
next four months to 26 million cubic meters in a bid to help
protect the local marine and coastal environment.
According to Decree No. 598/2002, if the limit is exceeded
before the end of December, the government will impose a
temporary export ban.
The decree was signed by Minister of Trade and Industry Rini
M. Soewandi on Tuesday and will come into effect on Sept. 5.
Under the decree, sand exporters must first seek approval from
the local administration for the volume of their sand exports.
The Riau provincial government will then issue permits under a
quota system.
Sand exports have sparked protests from many parties,
including legislators and environmental groups, who say that they
only cause losses to both the local administration and local
people.
Uncontrolled sand mining in Riau has caused severe
environmental damage and led to the disappearance of a number of
small islets in the province.
Riau has been exporting both sand both legally and illegally
to Singapore for many years to support the city state's
construction sector and coastal reclamation projects.
Singapore is estimated to need some 1.8 billion cubic meters
of sand over the next eight years.
Meanwhile, Ferry Yahya, director of agricultural and mining
products at the Ministry of Trade and Industry, urged the
Singapore government to disclose its real need for Indonesian
sand so as to help Indonesia formulate a better policy on sand
exports.
He said that the new decree on limiting exports was based on
data from the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS), which recorded
sand exports from Riau last year at about 80 million cubic
meters.
"We hope that Singapore will be more transparent about its
demand for Indonesian sand," he told The Jakarta Post.
The government has in the passed announced various measures to
curb illegal sand mining. However, these measures have generally
failed to halt the mining, which is believed to be backed by
military figures and international operators.
However, Navy Chief of Staff Adm. Bernard Kent Sondakh denied
on Tuesday Navy backing or involvement in sand smuggling to
Singapore.
"We (the Navy) are making efforts to stop the sand smuggling.
And within the last two days, we've managed to arrest five ships
that are involved. Previously, we arrested seven other ships at
Tanjung Balai and Tanjung Uban in Riau," Bernard told a press
conference after attending at a seminar on maritime issues.
Bernard was responding to a question whether one of the seven
ships that were currently being detained in Riau belonged to the
Navy. Reports have it that the ship, the NV Gojornov, has been
chartered by the Navy from Russia.
"I categorically deny that any of my men, or any Navy
cooperatives, are involved in these activities," Bernard said.
"What we have discovered is that these ships were using fake
documents, including the logbooks recording how many times they
had shipped sand to Singapore," he stated.
He said that sand smuggling violated Law No. 23/1997 on the
environment.
Another top Navy official in Batam, Col. Afyaman AS, said that
some 54 sand dredgers out of the total of 70 such vessels
worldwide were now operating in Riau waters.
"Riau waters are currently the busiest in the world for this
as some 54 sand dredgers are operating here," Afyaman was quoted
by Antara as saying.
Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Rokhmin Dahuri on
Monday said nine impounded vessels accused of smuggling sand to
Singapore would be released upon payment of bonds into court.
He said that the value set for the bonds could be up to Rp 2
trillion (US$250 million).
President Megawati Soekarnoputri has established a special
team to help seek ways of limiting the detrimental effects of
sand mining on the marine environment.
The team, which is led by Rokhmin, consists of the relevant
ministers and top military officials.
The putting in place of a zoning system for sand mining in
coastal and maritime areas is expected to help reduce the number
of areas where sand is mined at present.
Under the zoning mechanism, some 50 percent of existing sand
mining areas will be put off-limits to mining operations.