President Director of PT. Semen Tonasa Sattar Bata told ANTARA here on Sunday that the construction of the 2.5 million tons capacity cement plant has entered its final stages.
"All the physical work had been completed in June, while the finishing touches and inaugural preparations will be made next month," he said.
Sattar Bata who is in Ambon along with South Sulawesi deputy Governer Agus Arifin Nu`mang to hand over an ambulance to the South Sulawesi Family Association of Maluku said the investment to build the new cement plant has reached Rp6.5 trillion.
The investment as the result of a joint venture of a number of subsidiaries of PT. Semen Gresik, is also aimed at building other relevant facilities like a pier and power plant with a capacity of 2 x 35 megawatts.
"The plant has now even already producing cement, and is expected to meet the need for the building material in East Indonesia (KTI)," he said.
He also said that Tonasa V was built as there is still a great deal of the raw material (limestone and clay) amounting to 1,351.5 million tons of limestone and 152.4 million tons of clay, which all may last for more than a 100 years.
Besides, the cost of cement production is relatively low because of the abundant raw material near the location of the plant, and expanded capacity, increased production, better management and the use of bulk boats also minimized cost.
He said PT. Semen Tonasa is currently controlling 48 pct of the need for cement in KTI with a growth rate of 7-8 pct per year. The operation of the plant will increase the production capacity of PT. Semen Tonasa to 6.4 million tons per year, including four million tons from the production of Tonasa I, II, III and IV.
He also said there is a prospect to build other plants in KTI, considering the very big and increasing need for cement raw material in the eastern parts of the country.
"The total need for cement in KTI has reached 12 million tons per year, with Tonasa meeting 6.5 million tons, 1.8 million tons from PT. Semen Bosowa, and the rest from other companies, so that there is a prospect to build new plants to meet the needs and demands from the people in KTI," Sattar Bata said.
Besides building plants, Semen Tonasa also planned to build packing plants in eight locations, including four in Papua, namely Jayapura, Timika, Sorong and Manokwari with each unit having a capacity of 300,000 tons per year and a total investment of Rp140 billion.
The other locations are Samarinda, Gorontalo, Palu and Tarakan. Packing plants will facilitate distribution to targetted marketing areas and minimize transportation cost.
Sattar Bata also added that production will also be boosted by reconditioning Tonasa III and IV and by 2015 it is expected that total production would reach 8 million tons per year. (*)
Editor: Kunto Wibisono
Copyright © ANTARA 2012
