JAKARTA, Sept. 24 (Xinhua) -- Indonesian President Joko Widodo inaugurated the completion of the phase 1 construction of the alumina refinery smelter in a 500-hectare integrated area in Mempawah regency, West Kalimantan, on Tuesday.
The smelter, owned by PT Borneo Alumina Indonesia in partnership with PT Inalum and PT Antam, was built with an initial investment of 16 trillion rupiah (around 1 billion U.S. dollars) and is expected to stop raw material exports while positioning Indonesia as an independent industrial nation.
"The construction of this smelter is our effort to advance Indonesia into an industrial country, processing our natural resources ourselves and no longer exporting raw materials," Widodo stated.
Alumina or aluminum oxide is widely used in metallurgy, the chemical industry, automotive, and cosmetics. Currently, Indonesia still imports 56 percent of its total alumina needs, approximately 1.2 million tons per year, spending about 3.5 billion dollars in foreign exchange.
With this smelter, Widodo is confident that domestic needs can be met, while surplus production will be exported. ■