President Jokowi: Mentarang Hydro Power to Support Indonesia Green Economy

President Jokowi attending the groundbreaking of Mentarang Induk hydro power plant (PLTA) of PT Kayan Hydropower Nusantara, in Malinau, North Kalimantan province, Wednesday (03/01). (Photo: BPMI/Rusman)

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has emphasized that the Government fully supports Indonesia’s economic transformation plans towards a green economy, one of which is through the construction of the Mentarang Main Hydro Power Plant (PLTA) which is integrated with the Kalimantan Industrial Park Indonesia (KIPI) in North Kalimantan province.

He made the statement while groundbreaking PT Kayan Hydropower Nusantara’s Mentarang Main hydropower plant, in the province on Wednesday (03/01).

“Since the source of energy is green, the products that will be produced later in the Industrial Park Area are also green products, products with low carbon emissions, products that have premium but competitive prices. Because the source comes from the Mentarang River in Malinau regency,” said the President.

He said that integration from the Mentarang River area to the KIPI area in Bulungan regency was not an easy job. In addition, the project also requires an enormous budget, which is around Rp40 trillion.

“The integrated area from Mentarang to the area in Bulungan will be connected by 300 kilometers transmission. This is not an easy job and requires a large budget of US$2.6 billion, if converted to Rupiah will be around Rp40 trillion, a very large money,” he stated.

Furthermore, President Jokowi said that the existence of these areas will support Indonesia’s big plans in carrying out economic transformation towards a green economy. Previously, the President had also inspected the AEFI area which was considered ready to operate.

“In the KIPI area, we will build the first EV battery, batteries for electric cars, plus the electric car itself. The second is aluminum, the aluminum industry, which will also be built in the area. The aluminum called green aluminum because it’s from green energy. Then the third, there is petrochemical industry which will also start immediately,” he remarked. (TGH/UN) (EST/LW)