REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, TIMIKA -- The Papua provincial administration hopes that President Joko Widodo (Jokowi)agrees that PT Freeport Indonesia should build its copper smelter in Papua.

Chief spokesman of the provincial administration FX Mote said here on Wednesday that last week Papua Governor Lukas Enembe met Vice President Jusuf Kalla and heads of other state high institutions -- including MPR, DPR and DPD, proposing that the smelter be built in Papua.

At the meeting the governor was accompanies by all heads of district administration in the province as well as the Papua Regional Administration Council (DPD) and the Papua People's Council (MRP).

PT Freeport, which has large copper mines in Papua, had agreed to build its smelter in Gresik, East Java.

"We hopes that President Jokowi share the same opinion with Vice President Jusuf Kalla," Mote said.

"We are waiting for the decision of the Parliament and the minister concerned about the location of the project," he added.

In principle the Papua provincial administration and the people of Papua are against building the smelter outside Papua, he said.

He said Jusuf Kalla and leaders of other state high institutions such as MPR, DPR and DPD also hoped that the smelter should be built in Papua.

"We welcome the statement by Jusuf Kalla that it is up to Freeport where it wants to built its smelter. It is built by the company, then why the government has to interfere about the location," Mote said.

The provincial administration of Papua believed that PT Freeport is ready to build its smelter in Papua, he said.

"Freeport knows where its copper concentrate comes from . Freeport is obliged to build the smelter in Papua as expected by all people in Papua," he said.

He said the provincial administration will continue to insist that PT Freeport would build the smelter in Timika, Papua, close its its copper mines.

Earlier Governor Lukas Enembe said he would make a number of breakthrough to form partnership with foreign investors to build copper and gold processing facilities in Papua.

Freeport also operates the country's largest gold mines in Papua.

Lukas said he would sign a memorandum of understanding with Goldman Sachs, a US bank, that would finance the construction of the smelters in Papua.

If the facilities have been operational, Freeport would be required to have its copper concentrate and gold ore processed in Papua.

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