JAKARTA (Yosefardi) – Harita Group, controlled by Lim family, builds bauxite smelter in Ketapang, West Kalimantan, which cost US$1 billion, equivalent Rp10 trillion.

The smelter will have capacity of 2 million tons per year. The project is managed by PT Well Harvest Winning, Winning Investment Co Ltd and PT Danpac Resources Kalbar, a jount venture (JV) between PT Cita Mineral Investindo Tbk (CITA), member of Harita Group, and China Hongqiao Group Ltd.

The smelter is targeted to commence its production by mid of 2015. The smelter will process bauxite into aluminium, supplied to PT Indonesia Asahan Aluminimum (Inalum).

Currently, national demand of aluminium reaches 500,000 tons per year, but the supply only reaches 250,000 tons.