TEMPO.CO, Balikpapan - Astra Agro Lestari is preparing to build a new CPO processing plant in Penajam, East Kalimantan. The company’s Borneo 3 Area Manager Budi Utarto said that the factory is built to process fresh bunches from the smallholdings around Astra Agro’s oil palm plantation.
"We're preparing to build a new plant this year," Budi said in Balikpapan on Tuesday, May 7.
Budi added that a team of experts are currently studying the economic level of oil palm production from smallholdings in Penajam, which directly intersected the Astra Agro plantation. Ideally, one processing plant must be able to process 60 fresh bunches a day.
"Our own plantation is capable of producing 120 tons of fresh bunches each day. We'll calculate the economic value of the plant construction with the production of fresh bunches from nucleus estate farms and smallholdings," said Budi without mentioning the total investments.
SG WIBISONO