Ministry To Study BPPT's Potential To Assess Technology

Jakarta (Antara Bali) -- The Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Ministry said that it will study the potential of the Agency for Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT) to harmonize cooperation between the two institutions.

"We want to study the potential of the BPPT," ESDM Minister Sudirman Said stated after attending the signing of a cooperation agreement between the ESDM Ministry and the BPPT here on Monday.

The deal signed between the two institutions was on the planning and acceleration of the development of energy and mining infrastructure in the country.

The minister said that his ministry will first focus on infrastructure in the power sector as currently, the government was concentrating on the development of a 35,000-megawatt power program.

Said also pointed out that his ministry and the BPPT were now cooperating to plan ways to develop the energy sector in 2016.

By accelerating the planning process, the implementation of the programs can also be expedited. This way, tenders can be offered by October for the implementation of next year's programs, he explained.

It was reported earlier that the government would assign the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas) and the BPPT to make the development process in the country more effective.

According to Vice President Jusuf Kalla, Singapore advances even though it lacks natural resources because it seriously assesses science and technology and applies it well.

The vice president noted that he often criticized the BPPT not because he was angry but because he wanted the agency to make such assessments and applications successfully and progressively.

"If the assessment and application (of science and technology) had been carried out correctly, we might have already had hundreds of patents. We could have even won a Nobel Prize," he remarked.

He added that a nation does not advance without good planning and application of technology.

Kalla left for Singapore on Sunday, August 9, morning to attend a celebration marking the 50th anniversary of the neighboring country's independence.

"The vice president left for Singapore on behalf of President Joko Widodo to attend the celebration of Singapore's 50th Independence Day, which was held on Sunday, August 9, evening," the vice president's secretariat said in a press statement.

Vice President M. Jusuf Kalla and Mme. Mufidah Kalla departed from Halim Perdanakusuma Airbase on Sunday, at 7 a.m. local time.

During his stay in Singapore, Kalla delivered a speech at a seminar organized by the Indonesian Students' Association International at the Indonesian embassy there.

Kalla returned to Jakarta on Monday, August 10, morning. Singapore, a former British colony, celebrated its separation from Malaysia on August 9. (WDY)