Freeport Indonesia is required to divest 10.64 percent of its shares to Indonesian investors this year to add to 9.36 percent stake already held by the government.
The US mining company offered the shares at a price of Rp23 trillion or US$1.7 billion.
"The government has no money for it. Even if we have, we prefer to use the money to finance infrastructure development," Sofyan said here on Friday.
Currently the likeliest option is for state companies (BUMN) to buy the shares, he said.
"Please make the offer to the office of the minister for state companies. They could study the offer and evaluate the value of the share," he said.
He said he had heard a number of state companies expressing interest in the stake.
He said the BUMNs interested in the stake should start reevaluate the offer and study the financial risks as the prices of gold and copper, the main products of Freeport, are now on the decline.
"Please reevaluate. What they have given was an offer price. The share price of the company is shrinking," he said.
Sofyan described as a good step for BUMNs to acquire the share of Freeport to increase national ownership of the company. which has large copper and gold mines in Papua.
Earlier on the day Vice President Jusuf Kalla said the government is still studying the offer.
"Certainly it needs studying. It is not a small money," Kalla said.
He said the government is studying the real value of the Freeport share, adding there are quite many companies eager to buy the shares.
According to a government regulation, the evaluation of the share value is to be wrapped up in 60 days.
The government has issued a regulation on minerals and coal requiring foreign mineral and coal contractors to divest part of their shares after they operated at a certain time.
Divestment is set 51 percent stake for mining companies operating only mining activities, 40 percent for ones operating mining and smelter and 30 percent from ones operating underground mining like Freeport Indonesia.
Divestment is made by phases and Freeport Indonesia is divest 20 percent in 2016 and 10 percent in 2019 .
This year, the divestment by Freeport would be only 10.64 percent as the government already has a 9.36 percent stake in the company.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2016
