The government is promoting the development of the coal gasification industry to take advantage of Indonesia's large coal output and is offering incentives to attract investments.
Tasrif said the government will "direct" coal prices to $20 to $21 per tonne for future plants that will process coal into gas.
"If possible, we even want the price to be below $20 per tonne," he said.
Indonesia's government coal benchmark price is currently set at $65.93 per tonne.
He said the government is also planning to lower royalty charges for coal miners investing in gasification.
State coal miner PT Bukit Asam is currently planning to build a gasification plant in South Sumatra that is expected to start operation around 2023-2024.
The country's largest coal miner PT Bumi Resources is conducting a feasibility study on potentially investing over $1 billion in a gasification facility.
(Reporting by Wilda Asmarini; Writing by Fransiska Nangoy; editing by David Evans)
