Rembang plant has environmental go-ahead

PT Semen Indonesia says it has fulfilled all of its operational requirements at its 3.3Mta Rembang cement plant, Central Java, since last March despite a series of protests by locals over environmental issues.

PT Semen Indonesia's corporate secretary, Agung Wiharto, said the company had obtained all permits to build the greenfield factory, including environmental ones.

"Therefore, legally, no one can stop us now [from operating the plant]," he added after a shareholders meeting recently.

The long-running dispute over the cement factory in Rembang between the company and locals has festered for the past four years. The locals argued that the construction would compromise the quality of groundwater in the Kendeng karst mountain of Central Java.

The company had been forced to delay the operation of the factory by two months early this year after the local government revoked its permit.

Mr Wiharto added that the company had previously disbursed IDR40bn (US$2.8m) for a corporate social responsibility programme on education, health, farmers and the development of small and medium enterprises.