TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The deputy for natural resources and services at the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs Agung Kuswandono stated that government is optimistic to reach self-sufficiency in salt gradually. He claimed that to deal the issue with salt requires joint efforts from numerous parties.
"It cannot be achieved in one or two years. We have only cleaned and cleared the land for salt embankment. There are only a few hundreds of hectares that begin production," he said in Jakarta on Friday, Feb. 2.
Read: Indonesia Experiencing Salt Crisis
Agung affirmed that government wants to keep making developments to achieve self-sufficiency in salt. He explained that the first step to reach such a goal is by becoming self-sufficient in salt for various foods. Agung emphasized that increasing salt standards has to be done gradually all the way to reach industrial scale.
"Once the standard is high, we will build salt production and processing factory, we will invite investors to develop salt industry into a big-scale industry," he said.
Read: Indonesia to Stop Importing Salt by 2020, Luhut Says
Agung also highlighted a number of conflicts among ministries or related institutions in regards to salt import. Therefore, ministries and related institutions need to refer to the regulation that stipulates this issue clearly.
KARTIKA ANGGRAENI
