Japan to continue aid for environment

JAKARTA (JP): The Japanese government will continue its technical assistance on environmental protection and energy conservation despite the country's economic slowdown.

The director of the Trade. Finance and Economic Cooperation Division at Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Shinya Kuwayama, said on Thursday the one-year technical assistance, which was called the Green Aid Plan, would be lower than in previous years.

"We have estimated about US$8.33 million or 1 billion yen to finance the project," Kuwayama told reporters in a media briefing.

The Japanese government spent about $12.5 million last year and $15 million in 1999 to finance similar projects.

Kuwayama said this year the project would aim at promoting the use of environmentally friendly technology and lowering the cost of energy in the rubber industry.

The Green Aid Plan was launched in Indonesia in 1993. Under the project, the Japanese government will finance technical assistance in the form of providing experts, trainings and technology to protect the environment and save energy resources.

The director of the Center for Resources, Regions and Environment Research and Development at the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Rahayubudi, said the project would help the country's rubber industry reduce its energy cost.

Rahayubudi recalled that the Indonesian government was due to hike prices of fuel and power.

"The project will help the rubber industry lower its energy costs," Rahayubudi said.

Rahayubudi added that the project would also help reduce the negative impact of the rubber industry on the natural environment such as from the release of pollutants.

He said the ministry was studying the possibility of implementing the project in other industries, such as cement and steel.

The project has been thus far implemented in seven Asian countries including Vietnam, the Phillipines, China, Thailand, India and Malaysia. (03)