"We need to think of its usage for the long run."
Samarinda (ANTARA News) - East Kalimantan Governor, Awang Faroek Ishak will soon issue a policy to limit the production of coal by businesses from 220 million tons per year to a maximum of 150 million tons per year.

"The policy needs to be implemented to prevent the back up supply of coal from running out, especially since coal is a commodity that cannot be renewed. Therefore we need to think of its usage for the long run," said Ishak here on Wednesday

He added that if there were no limits on production, the supply of coal would sooner or later run out.

The governor noted that if it happened, then it would have negative impact on the growth of several projects such as the acceleration of infrastructure and the expansion of several industries.

The other loss that comes with no coal supplies is that East Kalimantan will lose several regional income from the mining sector, especially from coal that has since given a huge contribution to the income for the region as well as regional gross domestic product (PDRB).

According to Ishak, the policy to limit the production of coal would be made as a way to not only preserve the coal supply in the region, but nationally as well.

Especially since East Kalimantan alone needs a huge supply of energy as they are currently developing infrastructure at a rapid speed as well as expanding several industries, so the supply of coal needs to be preserved to stabilize infrastructure growth.

Ishak stated that the limitation policy will be implemented as soon as possible due to the massive production and export of coal by mining entrepreneurs to fulfill the energy needs of several foreign countries.

Meanwhile, the coal imported from Indonesia to other countries should be left as an energy back up supply for their own country.

He also stated that the policy would be implemented to stop mining entrepreneurs from producing excessive amounts of coal.

This step was taken due to the tendency of businesses to produce more coal than was originally agreed upon. (Uu.AH/O001)

Editor: Priyambodo RH
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