Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo said: “Since the source of energy is green, the products that will be produced later in the Industrial Park Area are also green products, products with low carbon emissions, products that have premium but competitive prices.
“The integrated area from Mentarang to the area in Bulungan will be connected by 300km transmission. This is not an easy job and requires a large budget of $2.6bn, if converted to Rupiah will be around IDR40 trillion, a very large money.
“In the KIPI area, we will build the first EV battery, batteries for electric cars, plus the electric car itself. The second is aluminium, the aluminium industry, which will also be built in the area. Then the third, there is a petrochemical industry which will also start immediately.”
While less emissions-intensive than coal, environmentalists agree that dams can also cause issues like the disruption of water flow, sediment flow and ecosystems.