Thousands Of School Students In Papua Welcome President Jokowi

JAYAPURA, Papua, Oct 18 (Antara) - Thousands of elementary and junior high school students in Sentani, Jayapura, Papua, lined the streets to welcome the arrival of President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) and entourage for a visit to the eastern province on Monday. The students lined up on both sides of the street from Sentani airport to the main road, and on to SD Bonaventura elementary school, about one kilometer away. They waved small national red-white flags while shouting "President Jokowi" upon seeing the arrival of the country's seventh president. At SD Bonaventura, President Jokowi and First Lady Iriana were welcomed with traditional dances performed by students. "I am proud to be able to see President Jokowi," Fredi, a junior high school student, said. Traffic in the street in front of SD Bonaventura, which connects the district and city of Jayupura, was rerouted to through the Sentani airport during the president's visit to the school. At SD Bonaventura, President Jokowi handed over additional food packages (the PMT program) to pregnant mothers and under five year old children, as well as elementary school students. In a number of his previous visits to the country's regions, PMT has been part of the presidential agenda, showing his concern with the quality of food for children. Good nutrition is important to turn out high quality human resources, the president has said. "We will do it this week and in the weeks to come, as it is important as an investment for the future of the children," he was quoted as saying in Banten last month. "We don't want pregnant women and young children to suffer poor nutrition. We will continue to drum up efforts to improve the nutrition of our children especially school children," he said. After visiting the school, President Jokowi, flanked by Governor Lukas Enembe, proceeded to Kampung Harapan, East Sentani to dedicate a power plant project. President Jokowi will commission electricity infrastructure projects during his visit to Papua and West Papua provinces. The Presidential aircraft took off from the Adi Sumarmo airport at 07.30 a.m. from Solo, Central Java, where he had made a visit to inspect road development projects. The president will commission six electricity projects, including a 2x20 megawatt hydroelectric power plant at Orya Genyem, 2x1.25 MW Hydroelectric power of Prafi, 175 kilometer long circuit 70-kilowatts high voltage air transmission cable at Genyem, Waena, Jayapura, 43.5 kilometer circuit 70 kilo volt high voltage air transmission cable at Holtekamp - Jayapura, 20 mega volt ampere electric relay station at Waena, Sentani and 20 mega volt ampere electric relay station at Jayapura. The operation of the power infrastructure projects in Papua and West Papua would reduce problems in power supplies in the two provinces. The two provinces have been beset by shortages in power supplies, causing delays in the implementation of many power projects. The government of President Joko Widodo has gradually coped with the problem, especially in the regions, by building new power generating plants. The government even hopes to build new power plants, with a total capacity of 35,000 megawatts in the country through 2019. Many, however, said the program is too ambitious. The previous government failed to meet its targets in the implementation of two fast track programs in the electricity sector, each with a total capacity of 10,000 MW. The presidential entourage, during the visit to Papua and West Papua, included chief of the presidential staff Teten Masduki, head of the presidential secretariat Darmansjah Djumala, Presidential Military Secretary Air Force Maj. Gen. Hadi Tjahjanto, Chief of the Presidential Security Troop Marine Maj. Gen Bambang Suswantono, Special Presidential Staff Diaz Hendropriyono and head of the protocol Bureau of the Presidential secretariat Ari Setiawan.