Thursday, February 09, 2012 - 12:02PM GMT+7

By Adianto P. Simamora

Eighty percent of proposals submitted by business people to seek the so-called "forest area rent and use" permits for mining activities do not meet the pre-conditions set by the government, a senior official said on Thursday.

Hudoyo, Director of Forestry Area Utilization at the Forestry Ministry said that a number of IUP holders failed to enclose in their proposal the needed documents such as the recommendation letter from governor or regent and the certificate of "clean and clear" status from the Energy and Mineral Resource Energy.

"Most of the business players seeking forest area rent and use permits are not professional. Many of their proposals do not meet the required pre-conditions," he told participants of the two-day seminar on "Unlocking Sumatra Coal Potential" organized by Petromindo.com.

He argued that the Forestry Ministry had set up clear enough procedure, mechanism and time-table on requesting the permits in order to provide certainty in doing business in Indonesia.

"We always inform business players about the status of its proposal after verifying the submitted data within 20 working days," he said.

source www.petromindo.com