Tanjung Redeb, Berau, April 5th 2019. Answering the needs of educated workforce by prioritizing local potential, encouraging PT Berau Coal – who is even 36 years old – to establish the first polytechnic in the district.
“The presence of vocational education institutions in the mining sector, which originates from company initiation and is located right in the mining center, is an effort to capture local potential, and equip them with capacities that are in line with industry needs,” said Berau Coal President Director Fuganto Widjaja during the inauguration of the Empowerment Program Community in Tanjung Redeb, Berau District, East Kalimantan, conducted by the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, Ignasius Jonan.
According to Fuganto, the Sinar Mas Berau Coal Polytechnic began with a three-month training program for high school graduates, and has now grown to become the first Diploma education institution in Berau District. This is in line with the government’s efforts through the ESDM Ministry to encourage the involvement of the industrial sector in order to share knowledge, competence and expertise in producing ready-to-work resources.
In 2018, the polytechnic managed by the Dharma Bakti Berau Coal Foundation (YDBBC) received permission to open Diploma 4 Logistics Engineering courses, Diploma 3 Mining Machinery Maintenance and Diploma 3 Survey and Mapping using a dual system approach that combines learning as much as 30 percent and The remaining 70 percent is in the form of practices in the work environment, according to industry needs, in this case mining. Graduates will at least carry a certificate of competence as a diploma companion.
The Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, Ignasius Jonan suggested, “As with the direction of the President, in the future, we as a nation that has a large number of workers must create more vocational schools. We already have a lot of public schools, but we don’t provide specific expertise, while jobs today really need specific skills, through vocational education.”
According to him, the government can work together with Berau Coal by cooperating with local governments, developing and enlarging what has been inaugurated today.
President Commissioner Berau Coal, G. Sulistiyanto who was also present said that his party believed that equal distribution of quality education was the basis for the continuous movement of business wheels. “Especially for Berau Coal which is supported by more than 21 thousand employees and contractors, of which 52 percent are residents of Berau.”
Cocoa Cultivation
Prioritizing local potential is not only done on human resources, but also reaches superior commodities. Such as company assistance in the practice of cocoa cultivation for communities around mining, which today is officially equipped with a Cocoa Processing Plant.
No less than 367 farmers were involved in the Berau Coal Agribusiness Economic Program, managing a total of 350 hectares of cocoa plantations, according to Sinar Mas Managing Director, Saleh Husin, “In an effort to encourage Berau besides being a center for mining and tourism, it can also be a center cultivation and national cocoa production. So that the post-mining area is not only environmentally restored, but also provides economic and social benefits to the community, on an ongoing basis. ”
The Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources said that this kind of initiative would open up economic activities and new jobs that could provide sustainable benefits for the surrounding community if one day mining exploration activities were over.
The Fair Energy
These programs and initiatives require continuity of energy supply. This is inseparable from the attention of Berau Coal, which since 2005 has supplied 120,000 MT of coal for free to Lati PLTU at Tanjung Redeb, which is a mainstay of PT PLN to meet energy needs in all districts.
While in a number of locations that have not been reached by the electricity network, especially in remote areas around the mine, with the support of fellow Sinar Mas business pillars, PT Surya Utama Nuansa, Berau Coal initiated a renewable energy program in the form of solar power plants for assisted villages and remote indigenous Dayak communities. In addition, in order to support the East Kalimantan Province MTQ event last year, it was also installed up to 100 solar street public lighting.
“No matter how good the program is, without adequate energy supply, it certainly will not be optimal. That is why, fulfilling equitable energy needs in Berau is one of our corporate social responsibility programs,” said Fuganto.