Regional Governments Pledge Tighter Monitoring

Various problems in former mining regions occur because of poor monitoring and law enforcement. In relation to this, a number of agencies across several regions have pledged to tighten monitoring and law enforcement.

KOMPAS/RHAMA PURNA JATI

A man walks down a path at a former mine on Thursday (9/1/2020) in Namang village, West Bangka regency, where new plant growth has started appearing. Efforts are being made to rehabilitate the mine, but some fail because they do not involve community participation.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS – The Indonesian Ombudsman has also highlighted the poor monitoring and actions. The Ombudsman said on Tuesday (14/1/2020) that problems surrounding mine-site reclamation were exacerbated by ignoring illegal mining practices.

In order to improve monitoring of former mines, the head of East Kalimantan’s Energy and Mineral Resources Agency, Wahyu Widhi Heranata, said that the budget for a mining inspector to monitor corporations had been increased to Rp 1.5 billion (US$109,700) this year. “Previously, it was only Rp 650 million. This increased budget will improve monitoring throughout the mine operation process,” he said.