JAKARTA (TheInsiderStories) - Indonesian government has received a number of investment plans from foreign investor in Bintuni industrial estates, West Papua, said the senior economic minister last week. One project from the European petrochemical company its estimated worth of Rp28 trillion (US$2 billion).
According to Airlangga Hartarto, the European manufacturer plans to build a petrochemical factory in Bintuni Bay. The regency consist of 24 sub-districts and 115 villages with population 28,978 people. The Golkar party leader said the industrial zone had been prepared since 2013 and was designed to cover 2,000 hectares of land.
He explained that the construction process will be completed in 2022 and is targeted to start operating in 2023. Through this development, he hopes that more investors will be interested in investing in Bintuni Bay.
Last year, chairman of the Investment Coordinating Board Bahlil Lahadalia announced the government offered a $70 billion downstream industrial project in the Bintuni Bay of to China and South Korea to produces 800 kilo ton of methanol per annum. The country also targeting to bring an investment of $31.5 billion in the chemical industry until 2023.
The government expects to reap the benefits of several new chemical plants that are currently underway. Currently, the Southeast Asia’ largest economy has several large expansion projects by PT Chandra Asri Petrochemical Tbk (IDX: TPIA) in Cilegon, West Java.
The producer spent $380 million to build the factory with total capacity production 400,000 tons per annum. Then, PT Titan Lotte Petrochemical Tbk (IDX: FPNI) with a $3.5 billion new petrochemical plant in Banten, according to the industry ministry.
Furthermore, the coal gasification project of PT Bukit Asam Tbk (IDX: PTBA) in Riau Island and naphtha cracking plant in Balongan by state-owned oil and gas holding PT Pertamina and its Taiwanese partner CPC Corp. Its expect, several projects gives a major impact on the country trade balance until 2023.
President Joko Widodo has made investment his top priority when he was sworn into office for a second term in October. The head of state has ordered his ministers to clear up bureaucratic bottlenecks that have caused hundreds of billions of dollars in the investment commitment to get stuck in local institutions and regional governments.
He believed the investment will be driven by improved regulations and bureaucratic reforms prepared by the government such as online submission system and omnibus law. As is known, the current value of chemical goods imports is more than $20 billion.
Industry minister, Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita, has pledged to reduce imports of consumer goods and to promote import-substitution industrialization to reduce the country’ current account deficit, which has continued to increase in recent months because of the country’s sluggish exports.
He has planning to develop more economic and industrial areas and also looking to strengthen inter-ministerial coordination in a bid to remove bureaucratic hurdles in executing the government’ programs.
US$1: Rp14,000
Written by Editorial Staff, Email: theinsiderstories@gmail.com
