Sangatta Floods Put KPC under Spotlight

Floods that hit the Sangatta area, East Kalimantan, for days have submerged thousands of people's houses. The East Kutai Regional Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) revealed that the flooding was the worst in the last 20 years. The Mining Advocacy Network (Jatam) suspected that the floods were inseparable from PT Kaltim Prima Coal's (KPC) mining activities. According to the non-governmental organization, the forests in the Sangatta River upstream have been cleared by the company, and the hills have been transformed into huge mining pits. Jatam advised the central government to evaluate and thoroughly audit KPC and ask the coal producer to restore the forest area and close the mining pit.

KPC denied the accusation and claimed that its mining water management meets the regulatory standards, including the water quality and discharged water standards. Wawan Setiawan, GM External Affairs and Sustainable Development of KPC, said the catchment area of ​​the company's mine only accounted for 6.06 percent of the total area of ​​the Sangatta River basin. Therefore, the volume of water accumulated from ​​KPC's affected area to the Sangatta River is also relatively small. "The notion that area cleared by KPC is very likely to increase the volume of water going to the river and cause flooding when it rains is not true," Wawan elaborated in a written statement Thursday.