Indonesia’s parliament proposed on Thursday to revise the country’s mining law to help the government accelerate development of its mineral processing industry and to regulate mining permits for religious groups and for universities.
President Prabowo Subianto has vowed to expedite development of Indonesia’s mineral processing industry and energy transition and formed a special task force to come up with detailed plan for the sector.
A parliamentary plenary meeting on Thursday agreed to launch a formal deliberation process for the law revision.
Among the proposed revisions to the mining law was a plan to give certain companies priority access to mining areas for “downstreaming” purposes.
The draft said companies may be prioritized based on their investment size, their mineral value-add plan and jobs creation for domestic workers.
The draft bill is also includes plans to give priority access to religious groups and universities for certain metal ore mining areas, taking into account the size of the mines, the institutions’ capability to manage them, and their plan to develop local economies and education.
Indonesia last year issued a regulation allowing religious organization to manage mining assets to provide them with a source of income, a move that critics have said was to reward the groups for their longstanding political support. The government at the time denied that.
The legislative body also proposed that mining area smaller than 2,500 hectares (6,178 acres) will be prioritised for small business to support local economies.
(By Fransiska Nangoy; Editing by Martin Petty)
