Kujang plans a new plant

Kujang plans a new plant

JAKARTA (JP): State-owned fertilizer producer PT Pupuk Kujang has began construction of a new plant adjacent to its existing facility in Cikampek, West Java, in order to make up for a supply shortage in the province, Antara reported on Tuesday.

The Kujang 1-B plant will have the same capacity as the existing facility -- 570,000 metric tons of urea and 330,000 metric tons of ammonia per year -- and will become operational in 2001, the news agency quoted Kujang spokesman Arifin as saying.

The existing plant was built 20 years ago and was running at 99 percent of its capacity in 1998, he said.

"The new plant will ease the supply shortage in Indonesia, particularly West Java," he said, adding that the province still had to buy urea from PT Pupuk Sriwijaya, another state-owned fertilizer producer based in South Sumatra. (02)