Banda Aceh, A national private company plans to build a crude palm oil (CPO) processing plant with a production capacity of 20 tons per hour in Subulussalam municipality, Aceh province.

"I hope that the CPO processing plant could accommodate CPO from the local people`s plantations so the selling price of the commodity at farmer level will be better in the future," Aceh Governor Irwandi Yusuf said here on Tuesday.

To date, Subulussalam has 31,030 hectares of oil palm plantations spreading in a number of subdistricts. Of the total, 13,568 hectares are owned by local people and 17,462 hectares by private companies.

The governor said two more CPO processing plants would also be built in Subulussalam which is one of the province`s southern coastal areas.

"Once the three CPO processing plants have been operating, we are optimistic that the plantation sector will be able to improve the income of the municipal government and local people," he said.

Irwandi said he would try to attract investors to process CPO derivatives into finished goods in the area. "We will try to invite investors to build plants to process CPO into finished goods, such as soap and cooking oil as part of efforts to create more jobs in this area," he said. (*)