PT Semen Indonesia will soon acquire 500ha of land in West Papua for the construction of a cement plant at a cost of around US$150m.

Semen Indonesia corporate secretary Agung Wiharto told the Jakarta Post that the firm would sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) later this year to procure the land for the first cement factory in the province. "For a capacity of around 1Mta, we might need around 500ha," Agung said.

Construction of the new plant is expected to begin in 2015. The new plant will be operated by Semen Indonesia's subsidiary, Semen Tonasa, which is reportedly allocating IDR3trn (US$246m) for the construction of the plant. The project will also be equipped with a private sea port to reduce distribution costs and problems in supplying the eastern part of the country.