TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Center of Energy and Resources Indonesia (CERI) Director Yusri Usman responded to President Joko Widodo or Jokowi's policy of reopening sea sand export. Yusri claimed he received information that there are four companies behind the export access which had been closed for 20 years.

It is reported that the four companies have collaborated with politicians to decide on the issuance of PP No. 26 of 2023.

Yusri thus urged the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (KKP) to be transparent. “The KKP must be transparent and accountable, instead of in collusion with big names already known by the sand-sea association,” he said on Sunday, May 28, 2023.

The government stopped exporting sea sand in 2002 in order to prevent environmental damage in the form of the sinking of small islands. At that time, a number of islets around the Indonesian outermost areas of the Riau Islands sank due to sand mining.

However, on May 15, 2023, Jokowi issued Government Regulation (PP) No. 26 of 2023 concerning the Management of Sedimentation Products in the ocean which regulates permits to use sea sand for domestic reclamation, government infrastructure development, infrastructure development by business actors, and exports.

Yusri also emphasized that the PP should not conflict with Law No. 1 of 2014 on the management of coastal areas and small islands and Regional Regulation (Perda) on zoning plans for coastal areas and small islands (RZWP3K).

The waters of Riau Islands are rich in good-quality sea sand sediments, he informed. Yet, sea sand in the area is carried by ocean currents and accumulates, so this natural resource has the potential to be used as long as it takes into account the RZWP3K of the Riau Island Province.

The technical implementation of PP No. 26 of 2023 will be regulated in Ministerial Regulations (Permen) and Ministerial Decrees (Kepmen). The regulations will cover a non-tax state revenue (PNBP) target that will be imposed on each cubic volume of sea sand.

Yusri also suggested that the Regional Government, the Transportation Ministry, and the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry need to be involved in the policy. In addition, he argued that entrepreneurs of sea sand mining who own permits must be accommodated to prevent social inequality.

RIANI SANUSI PUTRI

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