Papua’s development is one of the main priorities of President Joko Widodo’s government. This is proven by the various programs and policies that have been rolled out by the central government to improve the welfare of the Papuan people.
Several days ago, the construction infrastructure in the region was officially inaugurated. West Papua. First, President Jokowi has just carried out the groundbreaking of the National Strategic Project (PSN) for the Fakfak Pupuk Industrial Area in Fakfak Regency, West Papua Province.
In his remarks, the President emphasized that the development of the fertilizer industry in the Papua region is part of Indonesia’s strategy to uphold food sovereignty. According to him, Indonesia must be independent and self-sufficient, including in meeting food needs.
Food sovereignty must be achieved so that Indonesia can be independent in meeting domestic food needs and not depend on other countries. A concrete example of what happened recently was the conflict between Ukraine and Russia which disrupted the fulfillment of Indonesia’s food needs.
However, food matters are not only about meeting the need for rice, but also about increasing the productivity of the crops planted. This is a very important part because fertilizer will increase the productivity of the plants we plant, be it rice, be it sugar cane, be it corn, all of them need fertilizer.
Meanwhile, regarding the need for Human Resources (HR) in the Papua region to support the fertilizer industry, the President considers it necessary to adjust the supply of HR to suit industry needs and field needs. It is on this occasion that young human resources in Papua play an active role in building their own fertilizer industry.
Secondly, apart from food needs, the President is also pursuing the development of other infrastructure, namely Siboru Airport in Fakfak Regency, West Papua and Douw Aturure Airport or Nabire Baru Airport in Nabire Regency, Central Papua. Both airports have just been inaugurated and both are PSN.
Now the Papua region is increasingly developing, with more and more development. So that economic activity will increase and require better facilities and transportation facilities.
The President hopes that the inauguration of Siboru Airport and Douw Aturure Airport will improve connectivity in Papua, increase the mobility of people and goods, and open up many opportunities to trigger the growth of new economies.
Siboru Airport will become an air bridge in the West Papua region, connecting Fakfak with other areas, namely Sorong, Timika, Kaimana, Amahai, Babo, Dobo and Bintuni. Meanwhile, Nabire Baru Airport will connect Nabire with several cities in Papua such as Timika, Manokwari and Jayapura.
It is hoped that local governments and the community can make the best use of this airport. Taking advantage of increasingly open access to introduce the potential that exists in our region, existing tourist destinations, so that it will increase tourist visits to the land of Papua.
Minister of Transportation (Menhub) Budi Karya Sumadi explained that Siboru Airport was built from 2020 to 2023, while Nabire Baru Airport was built from 2020 to 2022. The construction of these two airports used the State Revenue and Expenditure Budget (APBN) which came from State Sukuk. The cost of building Siboru Airport is IDR 891 billion and Nabire Baru Airport is IDR 671.54 billion.
Siboru Airport and Nabire Baru Airport have a runway length of 1,600 m x 30 m so that ATR 72 and similar aircraft can pass. Siboru Airport has a terminal area of 4,600 m² which can accommodate up to 153,945 passengers per year. Meanwhile, Nabire Baru Airport has a terminal area of 6,320 m² which can accommodate up to 289,700 passengers per year.
The building design of these two airports carries the concept of local wisdom with a simple modern touch. The design of the Siboru Airport building uses the “One Furnace, Three Stones” concept, visible from the three roofs which reflect the people of Fakfak Regency living in harmony. Meanwhile, the architecture takes the concept of “Thousand Foot House”, namely the traditional house of the Arfak tribe in West Papua.
Then for Nabire Baru Airport, the concept of trees was adopted from the tropical forest trees of Papua. Then, the terminal roof covering was adopted from Papua’s tropical forests and paper airplanes.
President Joko Widodo also inaugurated the Tangguh Train 3 Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Refinery PSN in Teluk Bintuni, West Papua. After that, President Jokowi also inaugurated the groundbreaking of the development of 3 other projects in West Papua which are part of the upstream oil and gas (oil and gas) project and its derivatives. The three projects are the Ubadari Carbon Capture, Utilization, and Storage (CCUS) project, the Blue Ammonia downstream project, and the Asap Kido Merah oil and gas field project.
The Ubadari CCUS project has the potential to become a PSN, because it is included in the PSN list in the Regulation of the Coordinating Minister for the Economy (Permenko) Number 21 of 2022. Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Arifin Tasrif said, the Ubadari CCUS Project is the most advanced CCS project and will become The first CCS Hub in Indonesia, with a potential CO2 storage capacity of up to 1.8 giga tons (GT). Apart from generating additional gas production, this project will inject around 30 million tons of CO2 until 2035 into the existing reservoir.
The next project that will also be built is the downstreaming of natural gas into low carbon ammonia with a planned production of 875 thousand tons per year of blue ammonia, which will be used for co-firing in power plants and also in steel factories.
Another important project is the Asap Gas Field, Kido, Merah. This project will produce gas reserves (gross) of 2,244.45 BSCF, as well as condensate production of 5.4 MMSTB. The total investment value of this project is estimated at US$ 3.37 billion.
These downstream projects represent the resilience or resilience of the Indonesian upstream oil and gas industry in carrying out its duties amidst dynamics and challenges both global and national.
