REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said the government is calculating the procurement of subsidies for bioethanol. This is one of the commitments to overcome air pollution.
"Yes, subsidies. We are currently calculating them. The targets we are subsidizing are people who deserve subsidies," said Luhut in Jakarta on Friday (May 3, 2024).
Luhut said that bioethanol usage is one of the quick steps to control air pollution in Indonesia. At the "Jakarta Future Forum: Blue Horizons, Green Growth" event, Luhut expressed the government's ambition to replace fossil fuels with bioethanol.
About the possibility of replacing Pertalite with bioethanol by mixing ethanol into Pertalite, Luhut did not rule out this possibility. "We have to go there," he said.
He said that the development of sugar cane land in Papua, covering an area of around two million hectares, was one of the government's concrete steps in accelerating the development of bioethanol in Indonesia. "Later we can use corn, sugar cane or seaweed. We have many choices," Luhut added.
The government has formed a task force (satgas) for the Acceleration of Sugar and Bioethanol Self-Sufficiency in Merauke Regency, South Papua Province. The formation of the task force is stated in the Presidential Decree of the Republic of Indonesia (Keppres) Number 15 of 2024 which was signed by the President of the Republic of Indonesia Joko Widodo (Jokowi) on April 19, 2024. Article 1 of Presidential Decree Number 15 of 2024 states that to accelerate the implementation of investment activities in sugar cane plantations integrated with the sugar, bioethanol and biomass power generation industries which require facilities, coordination and business permits for business actors.
The formation of this Task Force is an implementation of Presidential Regulation (Perpres) Number 40 of 2023 concerning the Acceleration of National Sugar Self-Sufficiency and the Provision of Bioethanol as Biofuel (Biofuel) as well as President Jokowi's Direction in the Internal Meeting concerning the Acceleration of Sugar and Bioethanol Self-Sufficiency on December 12, 2023. The Task Force is chaired by the Minister of Investment/ Head of the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) with the Deputy Chair of the Minister of Environment and Forestry (LHK) and the Minister of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning (ATR)/Head of the National Land Agency (BPN).
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