Thursday 5 June 2008

Three foreign investors ready to build biofuel plants in Gorontalo

05/26/08

Three foreign investors ready to build biofuel plants in Gorontalo
Jakarta (ANTARA News) -

Three foreign investors from the United States, Australia and South Korea have expressed interest in building a biofuel plant with a capacity of two million kiloliters worth US$500 million in Gorontalo province, Gorontalo Governor Fadel Muhammad said.

"They said they were ready to invest (in biofuel in Goronotalo)," Fadel Muhammand said on the sidelines of the Indonesian Regional Investment Froum (IRIF) 2008, here on Monday.

He said the Capital Investment Coordinating Agency (BPKPM) had granted a license to the foreign investors to build a plant which would produce biofuel from jatropha curcas, maize and oil palm as raw materials.

"In order to meet their need for raw materials we have set aside 50,000 hectares of land for jatropha curcas, maize and oil palm plantations," the governor said.Gorontalo farmers are now enjoying profits from the increase in the prices of agricultural products, particularly maize.

Fadel said Gorontalo was now in its aggressive endeavor of developing commodity-based industries."Beginning this year we will develop medium scale commodity-based industries," he said.

He said his province`s maize production capacity reached 750,000 tons annually and it was expected to reach one million tons in 2009."Maize is our primary commodity besides fishery products," the governor said.Besides being exported to Malaysia and the Philippines, Gorontalo`s maize production will also be used to produce biofuel, he said.(*)
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