EMISSION REDUCTION PLAN TO COST RP400 TRILLION : OFFICIAL

Jakarta, Jan 29 (ANTARA) - Indonesia's plan to reduce gas emissions by 26 percent until 2020 will cost around Rp400 trillion, an official said here on Friday.

"We hope not all of it would come from the government. The figure is dynamic or could still change," the secretary of the state minister for national development planning, Sjahrial Loetan, said.

He said at least there were some real programs that the government could do to achieve the goal such as maintaining peatlands and reforestation.

The two programs would be able to reduce emissions by around 22 to 24 percent. There are at least 34 million hectares of peatland under focus, consisting of young and old peatlands.

In addition, he said, there was a program to economize the use of energy which was expected to reduce emissions by around two percent.

"Two percent of emissions reduction from the energy sector is quite big," he said.

For this program, he said, the government would promote the use of renewable energy sources and the use of gas to replace oil in power plants.

He said due to limited funds the government expected participation from various parties in the effort.

He said the President would soon meet with governors from various provinces particularly those that have forests and peatlands such as Riau, Central Kalimantan and South Sumatra to discuss the effort.

He said there had been funds available from abroad for supporting the program such as "from Britain totaling one million pounds and another 3.5 million pounds from there which will come in a couple of months. And after that they are committed to extend another 50 million pounds for over five years."
Funds will also come from several other countries such as the Netherlands, Norway and other Scandinavian countries, he said.

"They wish to see our commitment first, if they are not corrupted. So far only Britain that has sent the money but some Scandinavian countries have already expressed their commitment," he said.

He said he hoped private parties particularly companies would participate in the effort through their corporate social responsibility program.