Minister Of Industry Agus Gumiwang's 100 Day Target: Pursuit Of RPP Gas Earth To Transfer Of Import Ports

Minister of Industry (Menperin) Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita revealed, there are a number of strategic policies for the industry that will be carried out quickly and will be the focus in the first 100 working days after the inauguration of President Prabowo Subianto's new government.

The Minister of Industry said that the first policy proposed to Prabowo was related to the ratification of the Draft Government Regulation (RPP) policy on Natural Gas for Domestic Needs which had previously been approved by the Joko Widodo (Jokowi) Government.

"We are trying to move quickly. Yesterday I wrote to the President (Prabowo Subianto) for him to be willing to determine the RPP as PP (Government Regulation) for domestic gas needs, which in our view, this regulation is very important for the manufacturing industry," Agus said at the Ministry of Industry's office, Tuesday, October 22.

According to Agus, the regulation greatly supports the gas demand for the development of the manufacturing industry.

Not only that, but the natural gas RPP will also regulate gas for energy needs, including electricity. In this case, Agus also mentioned the sustainability of certain natural gas prices (HGBT) or cheap gas of 6 US dollars per MMBTU.

"If the RPP was approved and signed by President Prabowo, it would be a game changer. I think the HGBT program is no longer needed because everything has been rigidly regulated at the RPP, it has guaranteed," said Agus.

He said, with this regulation, later there will also be not only seven industrial sub-sectors that will get HGBT as currently applied to the fertilizer, petrochemical, steel, ceramics, glass, oleochemical, and rubber gloves industries.

"The Ministry of Industry basically coaches the entire manufacturing sector, so no one left behind," he said.

On the other hand, Agus also again proposed the revision of the Minister of Trade Regulation (Permendag) Number 8 of 2024 concerning Import Regulations. The regulation that relaxed a number of commodities was later considered to be the culprit for the decline in the national manufacturing Purchasing Manager Index (PMI).

According to him, the Ministry of Industry is not antiimport. However, it actually ensures that imports related to raw materials and intermediate goods are made easier for production needs.

"Long away, we must also strive so that raw materials can be produced domestically, the products between which can also be obtained or produced by the domestic industry itself. So, we do not depend on supply and imports that we can touch supply chain for world needs from Indonesia," he said.

Agus said that his party was also pushing for the transfer of import ports to eastern Indonesia.

It is known, there are eight commodities that will be targeted by this policy, namely textiles and textile products (TPT), finished clothes, ceramics, electronics, cosmetics, footwear, valves and traditional medicines.

"This will (be our focus) on the policies of the red and white cabinet government, namely setting entry points in eastern Indonesia, (such as) Sorong, Belitung and Kupang," he said.