Meeting With Commission VII DPR RI, PT BAI Reports Construction Of SGAR Smelter In West Kalimantan, New 13 Percent

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The President Director of PT Borneo Alumina Indonesia, Dante Sinaga reports that the progress of the construction of the Smelter Grade Alumina Refinery (SGAR) processing and refining facility in Mempawah, West Kalimantan has only been running at around 13.78 percent.

This was stated by Dante in a Hearing Meeting (RDP) with Commission VII DPR RI which presented the President Director of PT Antam tbk, PT Inalum, PT Pembangunan Perumahan and PT Borneo Alumina Indonesia.

"The current progress is for 13.78 percent, the current target should be 71.73 percent. Indeed, there is a deviation of minus 57.95 percent," he said, Monday, March 21.

Dante added that the delay in project development was due to very slow procurement data between PT PP (Persero) Tbk (PTPP) and China Aluminum International Engineering Corporation Ltd (Chalieco).

He continued, there was also an agreement between PT PP and Chaileco which did not meet the requirements that both parties had to fulfill.

"Because there are still things that have not been fulfilled, what we are doing now is limited to a down payment of 10 percent which we have already paid," said Dante.

Therefore, Dante admitted that he had summoned PT PP and Chalieco for mediation.

"We have been mediating since August 2021 but until last Sunday there was no agreement on the results," he said.

Another thing that is also an obstacle in the construction of the smelter is that the construction of the area that should be a place for B3 waste disposal and treatment still needs to be done further research.

"It turned out that the land was peat soil, so the consortium asked to relocate the land. Soil investigation is still being carried out," said Dante.

The SGAR project is managed by PT Borneo Alumina Indonesia (PT BAI) which is owned by PT Inalum (Persero) with a 60 percent stake and ANTAM with a 40 percent stake.

SGAR is targeted to enter the commercial operation stage or the commercial operation date (COD) in 2023. After operating later, SGAR is projected to have a production capacity of 1 million tons of alumina.