JAKARTA (TheInsiderStories) - Papua local government will receive a dividend of 5% annually over the shares owned by the government of Indonesia in PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI), a subsidiary of a world’s largest copper and gold miner Freeport McMoRan, top official said.
It means that the Papua local government, in this case Mimika Regency, will not receive PTFI shares directly as previously proposed by the Governor of Papua, Lukas Enembe. Therefore, they do not need to buy PTFI shares with their own money.
“We do not want our shares diluted. Therefore, we thought we will pay dividend, so that people’s right can be protected too,” the Coordinating Minister of Maritime, Luhut Pandjaitan said on Friday (Mar 24).
The government of Indonesia is currently in talks with PTFI’s Board weekly over the future of the company business in Papua, including the contract’s status, smelter development plan, taxes, and royalty issue.
Luhut also reiterated that PTFI must divest their shares to the Indonesian government up to 51% from the current 9.3%. However, the government also wants the divestment process to be carried out gradually in view of limited funds.
“Anyway, we finish the negotiations first. Just wait. We also do not want a fuss. If you want to renew the contract, follow the rules,” he said.
In addition, he said the government also did not regret over its firm previous positions against PTFI. He said the copper and gold reserves are actually belong to Indonesia.
“Essentially the government has a clear stand about it but we remain friendly to investors,” he stated. (*)