Chasing September

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The government continues to intensify to renegotiate coal and mineral mining companies' contract. The target is to have all mining license holders (PKP2B) to agree the renegotiation terms before October.

"This September we expect all PKP2B to have finished renegotiations," R. Sukhyar, director general of mineral and coal at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, said in a discussion in Jakarta, Wednesday.

Currently there are 73 PKP2B holders, of which 33 have agreed with the negotiation terms and signed memorandum of understandings (MoU) for amended contracts. According Sukhyar to, 40 other companies are in final stages of the renegotiations, and are expected to sign the MoU soon.

Ladjiman Damanik, executive director of the Indonesian Minerals Employers Association doubts that the contract renegotiations can be completed entirely before September is over. According Ladjiman, contract renegotiations are hampered by extensive bureaucracy and administration.

Economic observer Yanuar Rizky also said the slow pace of work contract renegotiations is caused by extensive bureaucracy and unclear policies between one company and the next.

Yanuar doubts that the government's target to complete hundreds of contract renegotiations before the end of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's will be achieved. Instead of forcing to finalize all renegotiations now, he said, the daunting task should be carried over by the new government. 

SAID HELABY | KHAIRUL ANAM