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S. Kalimantan must depend less on mining: Jokowi
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A coal mining site in Balangan, South Kalimantan. (The Jakarta Post/R. Bertho Wedhatama)
P
resident Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has called on relevant ministries to develop sectors beyond mining in South Kalimantan, saying the province was overly dependent on mining commodity exports for its economy.
"Dependency on the mining sector must be decreased and moved toward other sectors such as agriculture, forestry, fishery and the manufacturing industry," he said during his opening speech on Monday.
In the speech, Jokowi noted that the province had benefited from the slightly rising prices of coal, rubber and crude palm oil (CPO).
This led to South Kalimantan's economic growth of 4.38 percent in 2016 from 3.84 percent the previous year.
However, Jokowi said the province was too dependent on mining commodities it exported for its economic growth and noted that the mining sector comprised 20.87 percent of the local economy.
Furthermore, he emphasized the importance of developing the downstream sector in the region in order to create added value and more jobs.
Jokowi called for relevant ministries to expedite the development of the Batulicin and Jorong industrial zones by supporting infrastructure projects.
"Downstream development is compulsory for South Kalimantan. The downstream industry is expected to absorb a larger workforce and help create more even development in South Kalimantan," he said. (bbn)
