President Jokowi witnessed the underground mining process and activities located in the underground Grasberg Block Cave (GBC), Mimika Regency, Thursday (01/09/2022). Photo : Setpres.
TIMIKA, JAKTIMES.COM- Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) reminded the management of PT Freeport Indonesia to manage the company carefully. This company has a major contribution to the Gross Regional Domestic Product (GDP) in Mimika Regency, Papua.
This was conveyed by President Jokowi during a meeting with employees of PT Freeport Indonesia, Wednesday (31/08/2022), in Mimika Regency.
“I entrust this to Mr. Tony Wenas [President Director of PT Freeport Indonesia], the management of Freeport is to be really careful because it involves not only those in Freeport, but those in Mimika, but also those in Papua Province. Be careful about this,” said the President.
The President revealed that Freeport’s contribution to GRDP in Mimika Regency was 68 percent and to GRDP in Papua by 34 percent.
“As soon as this [contribution] here goes down, Papua’s [GRDP] goes down, Mimika goes down too. Be careful, because after I checked the numbers, the contribution was huge,” he added.
Furthermore, the President also appreciated PT Freeport Indonesia, which in 2021 managed to record revenues of up to 7.5 billion US dollars.
“I’m happy because last year’s revenue from PT Freeport Indonesia was around, I don’t know, I hope it’s not my fault, at US$7.5 billion. This is also a very big number,” he said.
As stated by the President Commissioner of PT Freeport Indonesia Richard Adkerson in his report, if about 30 years ago operations at Freeport Indonesia were dominated by expatriates, currently 98 of the workers are Indonesians and more than 40 percent are native Papuans.
“Earlier, I saw, I saw, I saw, I thought that all of those present tonight were Caucasians, it turns out that many of us and what I saw, many of them were from Papua,” concluded President Jokowi.
At the end of his speech, the President was seen giving the jacket he was wearing to an employee of PT Freeport Indonesia. During this visit, President Jokowi will also review modern technology in the field of 5G mining that has been implemented by Freeport.
Also accompanying the President in this event were First Lady Iriana Joko Widodo, Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung, Minister of State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN) Erick Thohir, and Minister of Investment/Head of the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) Bahlil Lahadalia.
