PRESIDENT INAUGURATES 12 COMPLETED PROJECTS IN SOUTH SULAWESI

Pangkep, South Sulawesi, March 12 (ANTARA) - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono symbolically inaugurated twelve completed development projects in South Sulawesi at a ceremony at the PT Semen Tonasa head office in Pangkep district, 51 kilometers north of Makassar, on Thursday.

The commissioned projects included the Rp206-billion Ponre-ponre Dam, the US$45-million Senkang Gas-fired Power Plant in Wajo district, drinking water purification facilities in the districts of Toraja, Takalar, Jeneponto, and Bulukumba.
He also dedicated a high-rise housing block in Mariso, Daya, a Muhammadiyah university, the Pankajene-II bridge, and the Celebes Convention Center Ballroom building in Makassar.
Accompanied by First Lady Ani Yudhoyono, the head of state also presented Rp466.27 billion worth of direct financial assistance under the government's National Self-reliant Community Empowerment Program (PNPM) to 24 districts/municipalities in South Sulawesi and witnessed the presentation of Small-holder's Business Credits (KURs) by a number of banks to local micro enterprises in the province.
The KURs for micro enterprises in South Sulawesi province are respectively from Bank BRI totaling Rp579.709 billion for 81,359 debtors, Bank Mandiri Rp44.85 billion to 151 debtors, Bank BNI Rp53.385 billion to 324 debtors, Bank Bukopin Rp16.142 billion, and Bank Syariah Mandiri Rp344.39 billion to hundreds of other debtors.
President Yudhoyono and his entourage arrived in Makassar at 10:50 a.m. local time for a two-day working visit in South Sulawesi from Thursday until Friday.
After the ceremony at PT Semen Tonasa head office in Pangkep, the president and his entourage left for Celebes Convention Center in Makassar to dedicate the building of the South Sulawesi Industrial and Trade Promotion Board and to listen to a briefing on the development of a Center Point of Indonesia (CPI) by Governor Syahrul Yassin Limpo.
The governor said here recently that the CPI project would start in August this year and therefore the provincial administration had allocated Rp10.6 billion to pay for the needed land clearance and for the administration of documents.
The governor said the mega project which was expected to be a landmark in South Sulawesi would start with the preparation of several supporting documents such as an Environmental Impact Analysis (Amdal) report, feasibility study, and master plan.