VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

An exterior of the village plaza of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Village is pictured in Tokyo, on Jun 20, 2021. (Photo: REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon) - 

Organisers of the Tokyo Olympics opened the athletes' village to the media on Sunday (Jun 20), showing off apartments and a timber-laced shopping plaza where 11,000 athletes would stay and mingle during the sporting extravaganza.

The once-delayed Games are due to start on Jul 23 amid concern that the influx of thousands of people from around the world would contribute to the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Japan has avoided the kind of explosive outbreaks that crippled many other countries. 

But its vaccination programme has been slow and the medical system pushed to the brink in parts of the country. The government's drive to hold the Games has been criticised by hospitals and doctors' unions.

Underscoring the concern, a Ugandan athlete arriving in Japan for a preparation camp ahead of the Olympics late on Saturday was found to be infected with the virus, public broadcaster NHK said.

Athletes will be shuttled in and out of the village and be tested for the coronavirus every day. Olympic rules ban singing and chanting during events and require athletes to wear masks at all times except when outdoors, sleeping or eating.

The shopping area of the village features an automatic teller machine, dry cleaner, post office, bank and courier counter.

"Where you can see bare light bulbs, we'll install lanterns to give the area a bit more of a traditional Japanese feel," Yoshie Ogawa, a director at the Tokyo 2020 marketing bureau, said at the start of the media tour.

The ¥2.4 billion (US$21.8 million) shopping area was made from 40,000 pieces of timber donated by 63 Japanese municipal governments. Each donated piece is marked with the name of the area that provided the wood.

After the Olympics, it will be dismantled and the timber returned to the donating cities for reuse in local facilities.

The apartment complex abutting the shopping plaza was built on reclaimed land, and designed to house about 12,000 people in 23 buildings. It includes shops, a park and a school. 

The buildings will be converted into flats after the Olympics.

The development of the housing project cost the Tokyo government ¥54 billion, including road work and infrastructure.

Organisers were originally planning to feed residents of the village in vast dining halls – the largest with a capacity to seat 4,500 people.

But now, organisers will ask athletes to dine alone, maintain social distancing with others, and wipe down surfaces after eating to curb the spread of the virus//CNA

Medical workers administer tests at the Bondi Beach drive-through coronavirus disease (COVID-19) testing centre in the wake of new positive cases in Sydney, Australia, June 17, 2021. REUTERS/Loren Elliott - 

Australia's state of Queensland recorded one locally acquired coronavirus infection on Sunday (Jun 20), the latest streak of small outbreaks that have been plaguing the country in recent months.

The Queensland case comes as a cluster of the highly infectious Delta variant has grown by two cases to nine in New South Wales, Australia's most populous state, prompting health officials to expand mask-wearing rules.

Australia has been highly successful in managing the spread of the coronavirus through swift border closures, social distancing rules and a high community compliance with them, reporting just over 30,300 cases and 910 COVID-19 deaths.

But the country has struggled with the vaccination rollout, and states have been plagued in recent months by small outbreaks, kept from spreading out of control through speedy contact tracing, isolation of thousands of people at a time, or snap hard lockdowns.

The state of Victoria, which battled a small outbreak of the Delta variant, which was first detected in India, earlier this month and which put five million people into a hard lockdown for two weeks, recorded no new cases on Sunday, following one infection in the previous day.

South Australia on Sunday joined Queensland in imposing a ban on travellers who have been in the affected east suburbs of Sydney in New South Wales.

Arrivals from that state to West Australia will have to get tested on arrival at pop-up testing clinics at the Perth airport and self-quarantine until they return a negative result.

According to government data, only about 4 per cent of Australia's adult population of 20 million have been fully vaccinated, while about 25 per cent have had at least their first dose//CNA

Commmited to Reducing CO2, Pertamina collaborates with Japanese companies & ITB in Carbon Capture Utilization & Storage - 

PT Pertamina (Persero) continues to contribute supporting the commitment of Indonesian government to reduce Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions by 29% or for international support is targeted to reach 41% by 2030. The global commitment is contained in the Paris Agreement at the Climate Change Conference (The Conference of Parties-COP 21) in Paris.

This commitment is also in line with the implementation of Pertamina's Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) principles. It was reaffirmed by collaborating with the Japan Group, namely JANUS, JGC Corporation, J-Power, and Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB) through a Joint Study Agreement (JSA) to review the implementation of Carbon Capture, Utilization and Storage and Enhanced Gas Recovery (CCUS/ EGR) on Gundih gas field project in Cepu, Central Java.

The signing of JSA was carried out virtually by Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Subholding Power and New & Renewable Energy of Pertamina Dannif Danusaputro together with Representative Director and President of JAPAN NUS Co., Ltd Kazuhiko Chikamoto, Representative Director, President of JGC Corporation Yutaka Yamazaki, Director & Executive Vice President of Electric Power Development Co., Ltd (J-POWER) Sugiyama Hiroyasu and Prof. Ir. I Gede Wenten, M.Sc., Ph.D. as Vice Chancellor for Research & Innovation of ITB.

This agreement of the the parties on JSA CCUS/EGR project in Gundih Field will become pillar, one of the Pertamina’s initiatives to reduce carbon emissions with potential reducing CO2 as much as 300,000 tons of CO2 per year from a total of 3 million tons of CO2 for 10 years, which at the same time has the potential to contribute to increased gas production.

This CO2 will be stored in the subsurface formation and will give the benefit of Enhance Gas Recovery. Then, it will be declared as carbon credit, that will be shared between the Government of Indonesia and Japan.

"We accept mandate to make a transition from Pertamina, as an oil and gas company to an energy company, where we will improve portfolio and energy mix from New and Renewable Energy (EBT) and reducing CO2 emissions for decarbonization," said Dannif. 

Currently Pertamina is organizing a Decarbonization Roadmap to support global climate change control and CCUS and will be one of the initiatives that can have a significant impact on carbon reduction. The feasibility study collaboration will take place from June 2021 to February 2022. Further, FEED and EPC will be held in 2022-2024 and are expected to be operational in 2026.

“We take the initiative to participate in this Joint Study. Hopefully, we can go into the commercialization soon. I really appreciate all parties and hope to meet after this pandemic is over and make the breakthrough happen," he added.

Representative Kazuhiko Chikamoto said that decarbonization is a requirement for governments and private companies around the world. The Japanese government has set an ambitious target for CO2 emission reduction by 46% by 2030.

The CCUS Gundih Field is not only a decarbonization project, but also the best practice model for decarbonization projects in the Asian region. This is a very innovative model, that could be developed further in the near future.

"We greatly appreciate Pertamina for giving us a great opportunity in the new Gundih field. This cooperation is an unprecedented big step,” said Kazuhiko Chikamoto//ANT

West Nusa Tenggara Governor Zulkieflimansyah at a meeting discussing strategic issues related to development in the provinces of Bali, West Nusa Tenggara and East Nusa Tenggara here on Saturday.  ANTARA/HO-Diskominfotik NTB) - 

The National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) is ready to assist West Nusa Tenggara provincial government in creating as wide chance as possible for local people to become entrepreneurs through the Science, Technology, and Industrial Park (STIPark) incubation program.

“We will support STPark through the development of infrastructures under a government-to-business cooperation (KPBU) scheme. The West Nusa Tenggara provincial government will be responsible for it. We will start it with a study to make sure the mechanism,” Bappenas Deputy for Development Rudy Soeprihadi Prawiradinata said at a meeting discussing strategic issues related to development in the provinces of Bali, West Nusa Tenggara and East Nusa Tenggara here on Saturday.

Under the KPBU scheme the government will cooperate with corporate bodies in developing public infrastructures based on the specifications approved by the relevant minister, head of institution, regional head and state-owned company.

West Nusa Tenggara Governor Zulkieflimansyah said STIPark will function not only as a means to develop incubation business but also to accelerate the process of grooming youths to become entrepreneurs and deepen their knowledge of industrialization.

“The industrialization is not identical to large factory. But it is the way to deepen knowledge of structure to give added value to farm commodities instead of exporting them in unprocessed form,” he said.

Therefore, not only Java but also West Nusa Tenggara will be home to creative industry, he said//ANT