January 20, 2026 | 04:18 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) concluded that the plan to build the Fakfak Fertilizer Industrial Zone in West Papua was not feasible to continue. An audit of state-owned fertilizer holding Pupuk Indonesia covering fiscal years 2022, 2023, and the first half of 2024, which was released in December 2025, identified a series of problems. Among them wasthe potential for investment cost overruns totaling up to Rp2.96 trillion (about US$177 million).
The project's location also kept shifting. The industrial estate was initially slated for Teluk Bintuni Regency, then moved to Fakfak Regency—specifically to the villages of Fior and Andamata in Arguni District—before it was later relocated to Tomage District. This came despite the fact that the development plan in Arguni had already been inaugurated by President Joko Widodo in a groundbreaking ceremony on November 23, 2023.
From the outset, the Fakfak Fertilizer Industrial Zone was designed as the largest natural gas-based petrochemical complex in the Asia-Pacific. The plant targeted annual production of 1.15 million tons of urea fertilizer and 825,000 tons of ammonia. In 2022, the government granted the project the national strategic project (PSN) status.
In his groundbreaking speech in 2023, Jokowi stated that the site was chosen because of its proximity to gas supply sources and because it was considered suitable to support plans for developing food estates in Papua. Part of the fertilizer output was also expected to be exported to Australia. "This is a big plan. We hope the land of Papua will become more prosperous," Jokowi said at the time.
Bahlil's Fingerprints on the Fakfak Fertilizer Project
1 hari lalu
The relocation of a fertilizer industrial zone in Papua has run into serious trouble.
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