The development of an Indocement cement plant in Tambakromo and Kayen districts in Pati regency, Central Java, which was expected to start in 2016, will likely be postponed for two years, according to an executive
he development of an Indocement cement plant in Tambakromo and Kayen districts in Pati regency, Central Java, which was expected to start in 2016, will likely be postponed for two years, according to an executive.
'Although currently its environmental impact analysis [Amdal] document has been completed and only has just to wait for permission from the regent, its construction is expected to commence in 2018,' PT Indocement Tunggal Prakarsa vice president director Franciscus Welirang said after a discussion session in Kudus, Central Java, on Tuesday as quoted by Antara news agency.
According to Welirang, there were still a lot of phases, including land acquisition, that must be passed after the Amdal document had been completed.
He said, however, that the postponement of the plant's development would not have a significant impact on investment ballooning because there was no huge investment that had been disbursed by Indocement for the project.
Franciscus further said that currently the company was still focusing on channeling its investment to a cement plant in Citeureup, Bogor, West Java, which had commenced operation.
Franciscus also said that Indocement understood local communities' concerns about potential social impacts caused by the factory, and said that it had prepared several measures to counter the concerns.
'Negative impacts do exist, but they have certainly been anticipated,' he said.
He said that industrial activity would not put the farming sector down, saying that the sector was needed to support migrants in the region in fulfilling their daily needs.
Meanwhile, Husaini, the Society for Health, Education, Environment and Peace (SHEEP) Indonesia's Central Java area manager, said that actually Indocement should have settled social and natural issues before it made the Amdal.
'If those two issues have not been settled yet, later there will be problems during the [development] process,' he said.
Moreover, around 60 percent of the local communities had rejected the development of the plant, which would be developed by PT Sahabat Mulia Sakti (SMS), one of Indocement's subsidiaries, Husaini said. (ask)(+++)
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