“We expect that by 2027, bioethanol production will already be underway in Merauke, South Papua,” Deputy Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Yuliot Tanjung stated when met at the ESDM Ministry Office here on Friday.
To achieve this target, Tanjung highlighted that the ministry is focusing this week on accelerating the construction of a bioethanol plant to meet domestic fuel needs. “This is what we are currently consolidating,” he remarked.
Merauke District in South Papua Province is one of the food estate areas prioritized by the government.
Food estate development in Merauke consists of three main projects. First, the development of a 500 thousand-hectare sugarcane plantation and bioethanol production.
Second, the expansion of cultivated land from 40 thousand hectares to 100 thousand hectares.
Third, the government is focusing on the creation of one million hectares of new rice fields, to be managed by the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Agriculture.
Furthermore, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Bahlil Lahadalia, in his capacity as Daily Chair of the National Energy Council (DEN), said he would support efforts to encourage sugarcane plantations in Merauke to produce ethanol and methanol.
The ethanol produced from sugarcane plantations in Merauke, South Papua, will be processed into bioethanol to emulate Brazil’s success in utilizing sugarcane as a source of new and renewable energy, as part of the national energy transition initiative.
“What we need to push in Merauke is converting sugarcane into ethanol and methanol,” he remarked on Friday (July 18).
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Translator: Putu, Kenzu
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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