BA privatization won't include Ombilin unit

State owned coal mining operator PT Tambang Batubara Bukit Asam (PT BA) won't include its Ombilin coal mining unit in its privatization plan.

PT BA president RA Sunardi said in Jakarta Friday that the Ombilin unit, which is located in Sawahlunto, West Sumatera, had too many problem to join the company's initial public offering (IPO), which would be launched in the first semester of this year.

Sunardi cited illegal mining operations carried by local residents in some parts of the Ombilin coal concessions could harm the overall IPO program .

PT BA, which also operates a coal mining unit in Tanjung Enim, South Sumatera, is the country's largest coal producer.

According to him, the exclusion of the Ombilin coal mining unit in the IPO would not affect its privatization program as a whole because most of its coal production came from the Tanjung Enim unit.(*)