Indonesia to spend a massive US$ 22 billion by 2010 to promote biofuels

[jpak]

http://biopact.com/2006/07/indonesia-to-spend-massive-us-22.html

OPEC member Indonesia, a future Biofuels Superpower, has given more details <*Bahasa Indonesia> about its previously announced bioenergy crash program (earlier post). The country plans to invest a massive Rupee 200 trillion (€17.3 bn / US$22 bn) over the next five years to promote the use of alternative fuels using crops such as palm oil, cassava, jatropha and sugar cane for the production of biodiesel and ethanol Energy Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro said.

About $6 billion will be spent securing 6 million hectares (14.8 million acres) of land, in an as-yet-unspecified location, and the rest will fund factories, roads and other supporting services, he said. Plant-based fuels can be mixed with gasoline, diesel and kerosene, now subsidized by the government.

Biofuel "can replace fuel in the transportation sector," Purnomo said today at an event in Jakarta to promote biofuel. It also helps communities raise their level of fuel self-sufficiency and creates a large number of jobs.

Indonesia, Southeast Asia's biggest oil producer and user, still imports a third of its fossil-fuel requirements, and the government wants to use more vegetable oils to reduce overseas purchases of petroleum and refined products. Higher crude oil prices, which have tripled since 2002, are spurring greater government and investor interest in biofuels worldwide.

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