Jokowi asked residents to reconsider their objection to the project and take into account its positive impact on residents living close to the project site.

He said the main objective of such investment was to ensure the prosperity of the people. "With the construction of the oil refinery, we want to provide more jobs," he said in Tuban, East Java, recently, as quoted by kompas.com.

Jokowi said the country needed to have its own oil refineries. Refinery will not only be built in Tuban, but also in Balikpapan and Bontang in East Kalimantan, as well as Balongan in West Java.

However, he said, residents who were against the projects could communicate their aspirations through regional administrations.

Pertamina and Rosneft signed a joint venture agreement in 2016 to build the Tuban refinery, the former’s first new oil refinery to be built in two decades.

The refinery is part of Pertamina’s plan to boost national fuel production to 2.3 million barrels of oil per day (bopd) by 2025 from 1 million bopd in 2017. The refinery was initially to be built in the villages of Remen and Mentoso. However, the land acquisition was rejected by residents. The project then was moved to other villages, but there, too, more than 1,000 people held a protest against the project on Jan. 29. (ars/bbn)

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