Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Thursday announced the revocation of more than 2,000 licenses for the mining industry, the exploitation of the coal and that of the forest, underlining the difficulties of the country of Southeast Asia to manage its vast natural resources.
This announcement comes in the midst of a showdown government with coal producers, accused of not having fulfilled their obligations to deliver to national power plants to meet the energy needs of the country, the world’s largest exporter of coal used for electricity production.
“Some licenses were granted years ago but have never been used, taking hostage of natural resources that should have been used to improve the welfare of the public,” Indonesian President Joko Widodo said in a televised address. .
2,078 mining, mineral, and coal exploration and exploitation licenses were revoked because their holders failed to provide an operating plan, did not comply with the terms of the licenses, or transferred them to third parties party, said the president.
The government also revoked nearly 200 forest licenses covering an area of over 31,000 km2, the size of the Belgium.
Indonesia announced a surprise coal export ban on Jan. 1 and then threatened to revoke the licenses of coal producers if they failed to meet their obligations to reserve some of their coal for local power generation.
“Companies that do not fulfill their obligations (…) should be sanctioned, not only with export bans but also the suspension of their operating license”, he had already stressed on Monday.
Electricity monopoly PLN has warned that its power plants will only have enough coal for a few days, threatening some 10 million customers with blackouts.
With global coal prices well above the regulated price of $ 70 per ton maximum in Indonesia, coal producers have no economic interest in supplying the domestic market, said raw materials analyst for Macquarie Group Lynn. Zhao.
The Indonesian government had announced a review of the export ban on January 5, but no announcement has been made at this point. Indonesia has reserves of 17 billion tonnes of coal and the largest area of exploitable tropical forest in Asia.
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