TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo on Wednesday set the stone for the Mentarang Induk hydropower plant’s (PLTA) groundbreaking located at North Kalimantan’s Malinau Regency. The President approves of this project which is being handled by an Indonesian-Malaysian consortium.

“This shows that we can truly work in partnership,” said Jokowi at the plant’s release on March 1.

This hydropower plant that is integrated with the Kalimantan Industrial Park Indonesia (KIPI) is expected to be completed within 7 years. “The products are low carbon emissions priced at a premium but also competitive as its energy comes from green sources from the Mentarang River at the Malinau Regency,” said Jokowi.

Jokowi said that integrating the two projects would not be easy because they are 300 kilometers apart and require a large amount of money, US$2.6 billion or the equivalent of Rp40 trillion.

"This is a very large value, therefore the government really supports this great work," he explained.

Jokowi on Tuesday has also visited the Kalimantan Industrial Park Indonesia (KIPI) area in Bulungan Regency. The President said that KIPI is the largest green industrial area in the world that can become Indonesia's future in the development of the green energy industry.

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