Jakarta – Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto is pushing palm oil plantations in Papua. Prabowo wants to produce fuel from palm oil.
"And we also hope that oil palms will be planted in Papua so that they can also produce fuel from palm oil", Prabowo said at a joint briefing with regional heads from across Papua at the State Palace in Jakarta on Tuesday December 16.
In addition to oil palms, Prabowo also proposed planting sugar cane and cassava, which can be used to produce ethanol.
Prabowo plans to achieve food and energy self-sufficiency within five years of his leadership. He said this initiative could also save Indonesia hundreds of trillions of rupiah from the state budget (APBN).
"ESDM [Energy and Mineral Resources] Minister, how much fuel do we import from overseas? Five hundred and twenty trillion rupiah. Imagine if we could cut that in half meaning that would be 250 trillion let alone if we could cut 500 trillion rupiah. Five hundred trillion rupiah means each district could potentially have one trillion rupiah", he said.
Furthermore, Prabowo also asked all regional heads in Papua to use special autonomy funds (Otsus) in accordance with regulations.
He reminded them not to use the funds to travel abroad. He said they all work for the people, and their performance is entirely accountable to the Papuan people.
"But I ask that governors and regents be truly responsible. Regent and governors should not travel abroad excessively using Otsus funds", he said.
Currently, there are oil palm plantations owned by a number of companies in several parts of Papua such as Jayapura regency, Keerom regency and Merauke regency. (fra/mnf/fra)
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Prabowo Ingin Papua Juga Ditanami Kelapa Sawit".]
