VP: GOVT CONSIDERING POSSIBILITY OF DEVELOPING TANGGUH INTO PETROCHEMICAL CENTER

Sorong, Papua, Dec 29 (ANTARA) - Vice President Jusuf Kalla said the government was currently considering the possibility of developing a petrochemical center in Tangguh, Bintuni district, West Papua.
"When I reported my plan to visit Tangguh to President Yudhoyono, the head of state told me to study the possibility of developing the area into the petrochemical center in Indonesia," Kalla said here on Monday.
The vice president is scheduled to visit Bintuni district to inspect the Tangguh liquefied natural gas (LNG) field at Bintuni Bay on Tuesday.
He said if the Tangguh area was developed into petrochemical center, it would give an additional value to the state and to the local people's welfare as well.
"If we only sell the gas from Tangguh, we will gain a little but if we give an additional value by building a petrochemical industry there, the profit will be greater," Kalla said.
Therefore he said he wanted to get first hand information about the Tangguh gas field.
He said if the area was developed into petrochemical center, the people of Papua would get 70 percent of its profit and therefore the local people would be more prosperous then ever.
"Welfare is the result of an additional value," Kalla said, asking the people of Papua and West Papua to cooperate in developing Tangguh area.
In his two-day working visit to West Papua, the vice president was accompanied by his wife, Mufidah, Public Works Minister Djoko Kirmanto, Environment Minister Rachmad Witoelar, and Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Freddy Numbery.
From West Papua, the vice president would fly to South Sulawesi for a working visit to Maros district on Wednesday, and in the afternoon he would leave for Bali to spend New Year's eve at the Tampak Siring presidential palace before returning to Jakarta on January 2, 2009.