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Six regions to develop bioenergy, says minister
Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Sudirman Said has said six regions in Indonesia will immediately begin to develop bioenergy or biomass power plants
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nergy and Mineral Resources Minister Sudirman Said has said six regions in Indonesia will immediately begin to develop bioenergy or biomass power plants.
'Our cooperation to develop bioenergy potential in Central Kalimantan is the first step. Insya Allah [God willing], this cooperation will be continued with the next agreements with several other regions which have been readied to develop bioenergy,' he said as quoted by Antara news agency on Tuesday. The minister was speaking at an event in Jakarta on Monday.
The five other regions that the government has earmarked as locations to develop the new energy potential are East Kalimantan, East Nusa Tenggara, Papua, South Sulawesi and West Papua.
'We will soon identify the condition of the fields. The initial management will also be developed,' said Sudirman. He went on to say that several supporting programs for bioenergy would be carried out in each region after the signing of an agreement between the government and local administrations in those areas.
The minister said among activities the government would undertake were conducting feasibility studies on bioenergy project locations, developing green areas of land belonging to local administrations and facilitating investments for the implementation of the program.
'The agreement will regulate the involvement of private entities and enterprises and business so that it will not only become a memorandum of understanding, because it is unlikely that the government would work alone. We should partner with local administrations, businesspeople and international organizations,' said Sudirman.
He further said other steps Indonesia would take included replanting and conserving plants on degraded land, critical land and ex-mining land.
The minister said an incentive program to reduce carbon emissions from deforestation and forest degradation or REDD+ had identified that critical land in Indonesia had amounted to between 49'70 million hectares.
'I think this [bioenergy development] program needs quite a long time. But if we don't start it now, we will never achieve it. Our success in developing new energy sources is only a matter of time. We should implement it in stages,' said Sudirman. (ebf)(++++)
