Limited APBN Capacity, KKP Offers Private Sector to Develop Salt Center Area in NTT

Director of Marine Resources, Directorate General of Marine Management, KKP, Frista Yorhanita (second from left). (Photo: Theresia Agatha/VOI)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (KKP) has started developing the National Salt Industry Center Area (K-SIGN) in Rote Ndao Regency, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) Province. A total of eight of the 10 zones in the area will be worked on by the private sector.

From the potential land of 10,000-13,000 hectares (ha), the government will focus on developing two initial phases, while the other eight zones are offered to private investors and salt users.

The potential land to be developed by the private sector covers around 11,776 ha.

Director of Marine Resources of the Directorate General of Marine Management of the KKP, Frista Yorhanita, said that the capacity of the state budget was limited. The government is only able to develop two initial zones through the modeling scheme of stages 1 and 2 starting from 2025-2026.

"Well, what about the rest? The rest will be offered to investors, including later industry partners who have only used it. Later, they will also contribute at least so that they can meet their own needs," said Frista in the Talkshow Bincang Bahari entitled "Salt Processing for Independent Indonesia: Challenges and Opportunities for National Industry" at the KKP office, Jakarta, Thursday, February 12.

For the initial phase, it is focused on Zone 1 with an area of 1,025 ha and Zone 2 with an area of 899.54 ha which will be worked on directly by the government as a pilot project for the expansion of salt production.

Based on the KKP planning map, the K-SIGN Rote area has a total land potential of 12,597.69 ha which is divided into ten zones, with the following details:

Early Stage - Government (Modeling Expansion)

Zone 1: 1,025 ha

Zone 2: 899.54 ha

Next Stage - Collaboration with Private Sector

Zone 3: 1,103.54 ha

Zone 4: 991.21 ha

Zone 5: 1,555.50 ha

Zone 6: 1,592.07 ha

Zone 7: 1,331.96 ha

Zone 8: 2,067.28 ha

Zone 9: 1,738.19 ha

Zone 10: 1,396.94 ha

Frista explained that the Rote project was the key to achieving the salt self-sufficiency target in 2027.

Currently, the national salt requirement is estimated at 4.9-5.2 million tons per year, but about 55-60 percent is still met by imports.

Through the construction of K-SIGN in Rote Ndao, NTT, the government targets productivity in the area to reach 200 tons per hectare.

If 10,000 ha is developed, production is estimated to reach 400,000 tons per year.

"Domestic production is only around two million tons per year on average, so there is a gap of almost three million tons. In addition to quantity, the quality of people's salt also does not meet industrial specifications, especially the need for 97 percent NaCl, even 99 percent for pharmaceuticals," he explained.