Papua is known as a region rich in gold. According to data from the 2020 Gold Booklet of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Indonesia has gold ore resources reaching 14.96 billion tons, gold metal resources of about 10,000 tons, gold ore reserves of 3.56 billion tons, and gold metal reserves of 5,000 tons, 52 percent of which are in Papua.
This data shows that Papua still occupies the area with the largest gold reserves in Indonesia. Well, with such abundant wealth Papua has a good economy?
Reporting from the Central Statistics Agency of Papua Province, Papua’s economic growth in 2021 experienced growth of 15.11 percent (c-to-c). In terms of production, the largest growth occurred in the Mining and Quarrying Business Field by 40.80 percent.
Meanwhile, in terms of expenditure, the highest growth occurred in the Foreign Export Component at 105.14 percent. Indeed, the reality is that the Papuan economy is supported by the mining sector.
How are the people who work in papua mines?
Looking at the data of workers in the largest company in Papua, PT Freeport Indonesia, the number of indigenous Papuans working there amounted to 2610 workers (March 2021) or 41.24% of the total workers at PT Freeport Indonesia. On the other hand, the number of unemployed in Papua is also not much less.
According to data from the Central Statistics Agency, a total of 65 thousand Papuans are unemployed, one of the causes is due to the narrowness of job opportunities. Yes, residents in Papua must compete if they want to get a decent job there, such as having to graduate school at least finish at the high school / high school level.
The obstacles faced by residents are, the infrastructure is still inadequate. Speaking of infrastructure, did you know that the land area of Papua is three times larger than the island of Java? Coupled with the number of people who are still small, natural wealth in Papua is not all scattered.
This is because there is no adequate road network that can connect the regions of production centers, yes even though in the current Presidential administration Mr. Joko Widodo is intensively accelerating the Trans Papua road mega project that has been underway since the 1980s, but still the road between the provinces is not fully usable.
What is infrastructure development in Papua?
According to data from the Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR), in 2021 the provinces of Papua and West Papua received a total budget of Rp 9.79 trillion, including for the construction of natural resources, roads and bridges, as well as for the construction of settlements and housing. This aims to reduce high poverty rates, reduce the index of diversity and equalization of infrastructure development in Papua.
Based on data from the Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR), currently the physical progress of infrastructure development in Papua is 37.95% and finance is 41.06%, while for development progress in west Papua province is 44.09% for infrastructure and 42.9% for the financial sector.
Highest economic growth in 2021
Head of the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) Margo Yuwono reported that the highest economic growth in 2021 was recorded in Maluku and Papua, reaching 10.09 percent.
This is due to an increase in metal ore mining activities, especially copper and gold ore, as well as increased construction to support the implementation of the 20th PON in Papua.
Despite recording high growth, the GDP contribution of Maluku and Papua is still recorded small, which is only 2.49 percent nationally.