According to Economic Affairs Coordinator Minister Hatta Rajasa, the government was considering to take over all mining contracts with foreign companies that would soon expire.
Medan, N Sumatra (ANTARA News) - The government is yet to discuss how the shares in PT Indonesia Asahan Aluminum (Inalum) will be split after it has been taken over from its Japanese operators in 2013, a minister said.

According to Economic Affairs Coordinator Minister Hatta Rajasa after opening an Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo) conference here Monday (Sept 26), the government was considering to take over all mining contracts with foreign companies that would soon expire.

He said that basically every natural resource asset controlled by a foreign party must eventually be returned to the Indonesian government.

The government would take note of the shares owned by foreign parties in mining ventures and pay off any of such shares remaining when taking over the ventures, he said.

"For Inalum, we must wait and see the assets possessed by the Japanese company to be repaid," Hatta said.

After Inalum had become a national asset, the Indonesian government would consider various possibilities with regard to management of the company which is located in Batu Bara district, North Sumatra.

There were two options for the company once it had become a national asset. The first option was changing it into a state owned enterprise (SOE) or hand its shares to the local province or district in North Sumatra.

"We shall see how things develop later on," Hatta said.

The contract on Inalum with several Japanese companies in the Nipon Asahan Aluminum (NAA) consortium will expire in 2013.

The local district and city governments had proposed that Inalum shares be divided among the regional (provincial, district and city ) administrations so that the company`s existence would be of greater economic benefit to the region.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2011