Investment Minister Brings Good News: The Muara Enim Coal DME Project In South Sumatra Will Absorb 12,000 Local Workers

Investment Minister Bahlil Lahadalia (Photo: Instagram @bahlillahadalia)

JAKARTA - Minister of Investment/Investment Coordinating Agency, Bahlil Lahadalia, is optimistic that the construction of a coal gasification plant into Dimethyl Ether (DME) in Muara Enim, South Sumatra will create many jobs for the people of Indonesia.

"This large investment will absorb a lot of manpower", he said in his remarks while attending the groundbreaking event for coal downstream into Dimethyl Ether (DME), in Muara Enim Regency, South Sumatra, today, Monday, January 24.

Bahlil detailed that this work will generate jobs for around 12,000 to 13,000 people from the construction site and 11,000 to 12,000 jobs downstream by Pertamina.

"Not to mention that once the existing production is in progress, as many as 3,000 jobs are still being prepared, that's the direct one", he added.

Bahlil added that he had confirmed with Air Product, a company investing in Indonesia, to use local workers as workers.

"I have called Air Product, 95 percent of the workforce must be from Indonesia", he said.

With the start of the DME downstream project, it will certainly reduce import substitution, which on average reaches 6-7 million metric tons a year.

With this coal gasification project, later coal can be processed by the gasification process to become DME.

The characteristics of this DME are similar to the components of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), which consists of propane and butane so that the handling of DME can be applied according to LPG. Therefore, this DME can be a substitute for LPG.

On the same occasion, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) said that this downstream project would reduce the cost of importing LPG. In addition, the operation of this factory will also reduce the cost of government subsidies to LPG users after switching to DME.

"If there are 5 more investments like this, you can imagine how many workers can be absorbed for this factory", concluded the President.