Day: April 29, 2024

“Indonesia, known as the world’s largest sugar importer, reveals ambitious plans to ramp up sugarcane cultivation in Papua’s eastern region. The initiative aims to reduce reliance on imports and foster a homegrown sugar industry, with a focus on bioethanol production, as announced by a cabinet minister on Monday.”

Against the backdrop of soaring domestic sugar prices fueled by tight supply, Indonesia’s announcement of plans to expand sugarcane cultivation in Papua’s eastern region comes as a strategic move. The decision follows last year’s drought, triggered by the El Niño weather phenomenon, which severely impacted crop yields.

In 2022, Indonesia’s government established an ambitious goal of achieving self-sufficiency in sugar production by 2027. To realize this objective, substantial expansion of sugarcane plantations is imperative.

The government has identified 2 million hectares (4.9 million acres) of land in Merauke, South Papua province, for an industrial estate for sugarcane plantations, mills, a bioethanol plant and a biomass power plant, Investment Minister Bahlil Lahadalia told reporters.”For the first phase, there will be two million seedlings coming from Australia,” Bahlil said, adding domestic companies, including state-owned firms, will lead the project.He did not provide details on the timeline for the industrial estate development. It was unclear whether the plans would include any forest clearance.

Currently, average domestic sugar price has risen 24 per cent from a year earlier to 18,344 rupiah ($1.13) per kilogram amid tight supply, government data showed on Monday, due to weak output.

The country’s sugar mills association expects the milling season to be delayed by a month to end of May this year.”El Nino driven drought damaged the (sugarcane) crops, some had to be replanted. … The sugarcane are not ripe yet, the beginning of milling season will be late,” said Dwi Purnomo Putranto, executive secretary of Indonesian sugar mills association.

If confirmed, it will replace the existing plans for a Light Rail Transit (LRT) system as the main spine of the state’s public transport network, a change that transport analysts have called for in an Together, experts add, these transportation systems will offer travellers from Singapore and within southern Johor a desperately needed alternative to choked highways and a public bus network plagued by poor frequencies and long waiting times.

However some raise concerns over how the ART system could incur “unnecessary” construction costs compared to the LRT.

Observers also say an improved transportation network could transform connectivity and supercharge plans for the Iskandar region as an investment metropolis, with a proposed Johor-Singapore Special Economic Zone (SEZ) on the horizon set to increase traveller numbers. The region includes four major districts in the southern state – Johor Bahru, Iskandar Puteri, Pasir Gudang and Kulai.

Beyond that, Johor is also on the cusp of implementing the special financial zone (SFZ) in Forest City – which Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said could allow Johor’s economy to outpace that of other Malaysian states in the next one to two years.With the changes afoot, the various transportation systems will offer travellers from Singapore and within southern Johor a desperately needed alternative to choked highways and a public bus network plagued by poor frequencies and long waiting times.

“By carefully planning and integrating the ART system with the RTS Link and potentially the HSR, southern Johor can create a robust and efficient public transportation network that benefits residents, businesses, and the overall economy,” Associate Professor Nor Aziati Abdul Hamid, senior researcher at the Universiti Tun Hussein Onn’s Centre of Excellence for Rail Industry (ICoE-Rail), told CNA.

They cited how the ART system is developed by China rail manufacturing company CRRC, and being used in some cities including Shanghai, Xian, Perth in Western Australia as well as Monterrey in Mexico.