GOVT LAUNCHES CLUSTERS OF PALM OIL DOWNSTREAM INDUSTRIES

Dumai, Jan 23 (ANTARA) - The government officially launched on Saturday a program to develop clusters of agriculture-and oleochemistry-based industries at Kuala Enok and Dumai in the Dumai industrial estate in Riau province.

Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Hatta Rajasa, Industry Minister MS Hidayat, and Deputy Agriculture Minister Bayu Krisnamurthi launched the program in the presence of local officials.

"The clusters of palm oil downstream industries will be one of the renewable resource-based national economic growth engines in the future," Hatta said before the launch of the program.

The program to develop the clusters of agriculture-and oleochemistry-based industries in two different areas in Riau was one of the government's action plan to revitalize the industrial sector, he said.

The program was also part of the government's medium-term development plan (RPJM) which focuses on three development strategies, including the optimum use of natural resources, he said.

To improve the competitive edge of the Indonesian products, he said the government had made a number of breakthroughs in its first 100 days program to break all barriers of the economic development in the 2009-2014 period.

In its first 100 days program the government adopted 45 programs with 130 action plans, including 19 programs with 52 action plans in the economic sector, he said.

The 19 economic programs included the development of industrial clusters and the settlement of spatial layout problems, he said.

"One of the revitalization programs we are carrying out in the industrial sector is developing economic clusters to gain added value which will in turn have a positive impact on the economic growth," he said.

By the end of 2008, Riau had 2.3 million hectares of oil palm plantations with an annual production of 6 million tons, most of which was exported.