Prabowo's Affirmation on the Downstreaming Programme

Jakarta (ANTARA) - President of the Republic of Indonesia Prabowo Subianto has affirmed that the downstreaming programme is the path for the resurgence of the Indonesian nation to become a prosperous and self-reliant country in terms of energy and economy. “Downstreaming is the only way for us to become more prosperous. We do not want to just sell raw materials; we want to process their derivatives in Indonesia so that the added value is enjoyed by the Indonesian people,” stated President Prabowo after inaugurating the groundbreaking of 13 Phase II strategic national downstreaming projects worth Rp116 trillion in Cilacap, Central Java, on Wednesday. According to the Head of State, as monitored via the YouTube broadcast of the Cabinet Secretariat, the courage to process domestic natural resources is the key to ensuring Indonesia no longer depends on other nations. The President emphasised that strengthening the economic foundation through energy and food self-sufficiency must be realised immediately. He stated that true economic sovereignty can only be achieved if Indonesia masters the production chain from upstream to downstream on its own soil. Minister of Investment and Downstreaming/Head of BKPM and CEO of Danantara Rosan Perkasa Roeslani explained that the 13 projects cover the energy, minerals, and agriculture sectors. In the energy sector, development is focused on gasoline refinery facilities in Cilacap and Dumai. Rosan reported that the refinery projects are projected to reduce fuel oil imports by $1.25 billion per year. In addition, there is the construction of a coal processing facility into Dimethyl Ether (DME) in Tanjung Enim as a step to substitute LPG imports, which currently account for 80% of national needs. “This second phase focuses on deepening added value and total inter-sector integration. The target is for these projects to create jobs for approximately 600,000 people,” Rosan reported to the President. Overall, these downstreaming projects involve significant synergy among strategic state-owned enterprises such as Pertamina, MIND ID, Krakatau Steel, and PTPN to ensure that Indonesia’s transformation towards high-value-added industry proceeds on schedule.