Jakarta. A Japanese joint venture is helping West Java build a waste-to-energy plant as Indonesia tries to kill two birds with one stone: waste problem and carbon emissions.

The West Java government inked Friday a memorandum of understanding with Jabar Environmental Solutions (JES) in Bandung. The freshly signed deal is part of the partnership to build the waste-to-energy plant in Legok Nangka, West Java. JES is a joint venture set up by local company Energia Prima Nusantara and Japan’s Sumitomo Corporation as well as Hitachi Zosen Corporation. 

According to senior minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, the construction of this “long-awaited plant” will finish within no more than 3 years. The plant will be able to process 2,000 tons of waste per day and convert them into 40-megawatt electricity. The project is also expected to help improve the water quality index of the heavily contaminated Citarum River.

“Mr. President [Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo] will launch this project in August,” Luhut was quoted as saying in a press statement.

Amidst the technological advancements in countries such as Japan and China, running waste-to-energy plant incinerators is no longer as costly as it used to be, according to Luhut. The minister also hopes that other sub-national governments will follow in West Java’s footsteps.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has also been supporting the project in 2019. JICA had helped develop Indonesia’s first bankable waste-to-energy project with a public-private partnership (PPP) scheme. Luhut added: “We look forward to expanding this [waste-to-energy project] cooperation to other regions.” 

In 2023, the West Java government announced that the Sumitomo-led consortium had won the tender for the Legok Nangka plant project. 

Earlier this year, United Tractors announced that its subsidiary Energia Prima Nusantara had agreed to form the JES joint venture with Sumitomo and Hitachi. United Tractors is the construction machinery firm under the conglomerate Astra. Investor Daily reported at the time that the waste-to-energy project’s investment value was worth around Rp 4 trillion (around $244.8 million).

Indonesia is aiming to achieve net zero emissions by 2060 or sooner.