Jakarta: The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources has set a target for Merauke, South Papua to begin producing bioethanol by 2027, as part of key projects under the region’s food estate development program.
“We’re aiming to have bioethanol production up and running in Merauke by 2027,” said Deputy Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Yuliot Tanjung during a meeting at the ministry’s Jakarta office on Friday.
To meet the deadline, Tanjung said the ministry is speeding up the construction of a bioethanol plant this week to help meet the country’s fuel needs. “Right now, we’re focusing on getting the necessary work done,” he said.
Merauke District has been named one of the government’s priority food estate areas. Its development plan includes three major projects: establishing a 500,000-hectare sugarcane plantation for bioethanol production, expanding cultivated land from 40,000 hectares to 100,000 hectares, and creating one million hectares of new rice fields to be managed jointly by the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Agriculture.
Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Bahlil Lahadalia, who also serves as the Daily Chair of the National Energy Council, voiced his support for expanding sugarcane plantations in Merauke to produce both ethanol and methanol.
“The key step for Merauke is to turn its sugarcane into ethanol and methanol,” Lahadalia said on July 18, noting that the bioethanol would follow Brazil’s example of using sugarcane as a renewable energy source.
