REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The government will reduce its steel import for bridge construction in various regions in the country in an effort to boost the use of domestically produced steel, according to Industry Minister Saleh Husin.

"Hopefully, next year the use of locally produced steel for bridge construction would already have reached 80 percent," Minister Saleh Husin said after attending a meeting on bridge construction at the Vice Presidential Office here Tuesday.

This year, imported steel still dominates the use of the commodity for the construction of bridges in various regions in Indonesia. Its composition is about 60 percent imported steel and 40 percent is domestically produced.

His ministry accorded priority to the domestic industry in the construction of bridges in the country by using their steel products, Husin said.

The capacity of the national steel industry is enough to meet the need at home like PT Krakatau Steel (KS) which has a production capacity of up to 3.9 million tons per annum, the minister explained.

"We still have steel industries other than KS. Domestic industries are able to supply the need for products at home," he added.

By giving priority to the domestic industry, the government will obtain many other advantages such as enhancing employment and boosting the growth of local industries.

The use of steel for the construction of bridges at home was targeted at 1.8 million tons in 2015, Public Works and Public Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljono said.

Therefore, the priority in the use of local steel products will benefit the efforts to increase domestic steel production, he said.

The government had not yet decided the volume of local steel products that would be used for the construction of bridges in the country in 2016, Hadimuljono said. This is because in the first stage the design of bridges which could be built would be made first.

"We will design bridges in November and December that will be built together with the Agency for Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT)," he said.

The steel which will be used to build the bridges will be handed over to domestic producers. It is based on the BPPT standard so that the product could be mass produced.

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