Chairman Of The MPR RI Bambang Soesatyo Supports The South Sulawesi Provincial Government To Take Over PT Vale Indonesia

The chairman of the MPR, Bambang Soesatyo, together with the Governor of South Sulawesi Andi Sudirman Sulaiman. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Chairman of the MPR RI Bambang Soesatyo supports the South Sulawesi Government to take over PT Vale Indonesia so that it is managed directly by Regional Owned Enterprises (BUMD).

"It's time for the nickel mining area in Blok Sorowako, East Luwu, which has been working on PT Vale Indonesia to be transferred to the provincial and district BUMDs," said Bambang Soesatyo who is also the deputy chairman of the Golkar Party after meeting with the Governor of South Sulawesi Andi Sudirman Sulaiman in Makassar, quoted from Antara, Monday, November 14.

Bambang also supports Governor Andi Sudirman Sulaiman's move to refuse the contract extension by a nickel mining company, and a work contract is a special mining business license (IUPK).

PT Vale Indonesia's work contract expires in December 2025. Since the mining exploitation permit took place in 1968, PT Vale is considered not much done for the welfare of the local community.

In fact, according to him, exploitation of natural resources only leaves a heartbreaking condition by leaving extreme poverty, especially in Luwu, South Sulawesi.

"The unextended work contract is required to belong to the provincial government to overcome extreme poverty in the region," he said.

Moreover, he continued, it was not only the Governor of South Sulawesi who rejected the extension of the contract by PT Vale Indonesia, the Governor of Southeast Sulawesi Ali Mazi and the Governor of Central Sulawesi Rusdy Mastura also expressed a similar rejection.

Based on the results of a survey by the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) of South Sulawesi as of March 2022, the five poorest areas in South Sulawesi are Jeneponto Regency with a percentage of 14.28 percent, Pangkep 14.28 percent, followed by North Luwu with a percentage of 13.59 percent, then Luwu 12.52 percent and then Enrekang 12.47 percent.

"The South Sulawesi Provincial Government must work hard so that President Jokowi's target of realizing the category of extreme poverty in Indonesia is zero percent by 2024," he said.

Previously, the Governor of South Sulawesi had conveyed directly that he rejected the extension of PT Vale Indonesia's Work Contract (KK) at a Hearing Meeting (RDP) with Commission VII of the DPR and the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM), last Thursday (8/9).

"We don't want to be poor anymore our citizens. Where we are rich (natural resources), and we are just spectators," said Andi Sudirman.