Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesia, through its Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, will set up a team to evaluate a proposal to divest 10.46 percent share in PT Freeport Indonesia, worth US$1.7 billion, equivalent to Rp23 trillion.

Director of Mineral Business Development, Muhammad Hidayat, said here on Wednesday that the evaluation was required to determine the reasonableness of the divestment value.

The team, Hidayat continued, will consist of representatives of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Coordinating for Maritime, the Financial and Development Supervisory Agency (BPKP) and the Attorney General.

According to him, the evaluation regarding the divestment proposal was needed since some have expressed the opinion that the value is too high.

Freeport itself, he said, has not explained the basic value assumption.

"There must be a price agreement. If it is found overpriced, we will call the company and ask for an explanation," he said.

Earlier, Freeport Indonesia officially announced that the divestment value for 10.6 percent was US$1.7 billion, or about Rp23 trillion.

The mining company was required to divest its 30 percent share by 2019 under the Government Regulation No. 77 of 2014 on the Implementation of Mineral and Coal Enterprises.

In 2016, Freeport has to release 20 percent of its shares, and another 10 percent in 2019. Since the government already has 9.36 percent shares, this year the divestment will be 10.64 percent.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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