President Joko Widodo inaugurated the ammonium nitrate plant in the Industrial Estate (KIE) Bontang, East Kalimantan, which produces raw materials for explosives and supporting fertilizer production on Thursday (29/2/2024). The plant is managed in a joint venture between PT Dahana, PT Pupuk Kaltim and PT Kaltim Ammonium Nitrate (KAN). The investment value for plant construction reached IDR 1.2 trillion with a production capacity of 75,000 tons per year.
“I appreciate the hard efforts to develop the ammonium nitrate industry. With the construction of this ammonium nitrate factory, imports will be reduced by 8 percent from 21 percent, which means we will still import 13 percent,” said President Widodo.
Mr Widodo asked for business expansion to continue to make sure that substitution for imported goods could be made. Moreover, he said, Rp 1.2 trillion for the Ministry of SOEs is not a lot of money. He wanted fertilizer raw materials from upstream to downstream to be produced domestically.
“It needs to be continued so that all 21 percent is completed. This way we can handle everything, it’s not just about ammonium nitrate, but also other imported products. Everything must be produced domestically because we have the power to do that,” explained Mr Widodo.
When fully operational, the plant is ready to produce 75,000 metric tons of ammonium nitrate per year and 60,000 metric tons of nitric acid per year. This amount is expected to substitute imports in respond to domestic needs for ammonium nitrate. In addition, independence in fulfilling domestic ammonium nitrate with SOEs ownership has a direct impact on increase of the Domestic Content Level (TKDN) of the products.
Meanwhile, according to the President Director of PT DAHANA Wildan Widarman, this ammonium nitrate factory will operate with high technology that is environmentally friendly and follows the operational standards of a world-class factory under the license of by Sedin-Hailifeng and a design that also complies with international standards.
The environmentally friendly technology is also complemented with the use of SCR (selective catalytic reduction) reactors and the most effective technology for reducing NOx emissions into the environment. Apart from that, this factory also adopts recovery technology to reduce raw condensate water consumption and electrical energy use.
“We are very grateful to be able to work together through PT KAN in building this factory. The contribution and collaboration between SOES that we are carrying out is a form of our commitment to developing the defense industry as well as our strategic steps in creating a positive impact on Indonesia’s economic growth and defense,” said Mr Widarman.
Also present at the inauguration were the Minister of State-Owned Enterprises, Erick Thohir; the Minister of Investment, Bahlil Lahadalia; the Minister of Trade, Zulkifli Hasan; the Chairman of the Presidential Advisory Council, Wiranto; the Acting Governor of East Kalimantan, Akmal Malik; President Director of Pupuk Indonesia Rahmad Pribadi; President Director of PT Pupuk Kaltim Budi Wahjoe Susilo; President Director of PT DAHANA Wildan Widarman, and President Director of Defend ID Bobby Rasyidin.
