Banten ready to accommodate chemical industry<\/p>\n
By I. Christianto<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Supported by its ideal topography, West Java's
\nBanten area has many advantages for various giant industries,
\nparticularly petrochemical-related factories. No wonder numerous
\ngiant industries like PT Krakatau Steel, PT Tri Polyta Indonesia
\nand PT Chandra Asri Petrochemical Center operate in this region.<\/p>\n
Banten, some 80 kilometers west of the country's capital of
\nJakarta, covers over 2 million hectares of land, about half of
\nthe West Java province. It consists of four regencies: Lebak,
\nPandeglang, Serang and Tangerang.<\/p>\n
Most of the chemical industries are located in Cilegon,
\nSerang. There is also a big petroleum plant based in Merak (also
\nin Serang) which is run by the state-owned oil company Pertamina.
\nMeanwhile, Tangerang is home to various plants and factories.<\/p>\n
Situated 15 kilometers southeast of Merak is the giant state-
\nowned Krakatau Steel. It was formerly a Soviet project, abandoned
\nand left to rust after the 1965 coup, then taken over by
\nPertamina with the help of foreign aid. It is the biggest steel
\nproducer in Indonesia, and, with an estimated investment of
\nUS$250 million, one of the largest industrial projects ever
\nundertaken in the country. It took 20 years to design and bring
\non line the massive complex.<\/p>\n
Tri Polyta is a polypropylene manufacturer and is listed both
\non the New York and Jakarta stock exchanges. It produces about
\n370,000 tons of polypropylene resins.<\/p>\n
Nowadays, hundreds of other huge factories and industries are
\noperating in the Banten region, which also brags to having a wide
\nrange of tourist attractions. Currently, Banten has over 30
\nseaports, most of them are jetties owned by private companies in
\nthe business lines of propylene, oil and gas, detergent and other
\nrelated industries.<\/p>\n
Considering a possible ineffectiveness of the jetties in
\nBanten, PT Kawasan Industri Jababeka Tbk., a publicly listed
\nindustrial estate and housing developer, plans to build an
\nindustrial estate in Cilegon. The company will spend hundreds of
\nmullions of dollars on the project.<\/p>\n
The project's general manager, Thoufik Winardi, said that
\nJababeka had obtained a license to develop the estate on 1,300
\nhectares in Cilegon.<\/p>\n
\"We have won the license to develop 1,300 hectares. Ground
\nbreaking was carried out in 1997 to develop an initial project of
\na 200-hectare plot,\" he said, adding that the industrial estate
\nwould be better than existing ones.<\/p>\n
He said the project was started with full support from the
\nlocal government.<\/p>\n
\"The industrial zone will be the first chemical industrial
\nzone,\" he said, adding that the ideal location of the project
\ngave it great potential as an industrial area.<\/p>\n
He said that Cilegon had been a popular site for various
\ninvestors due to its location.<\/p>\n
\"About 70 percent of the end products of various industries in
\nCilegon were marketed in West Java. Therefore, Cilegon is the
\nbest location,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Looking back to its history, Banten was the center of a
\ntrading empire in the 16th century. It is the coastal area where
\nthe Dutch first arrived to carry out trade.<\/p>\n
Early traders from Europe and the Middle East were familiar
\nwith this area as the traditional nautical gateway to Southeast
\nAsia and beyond. Commerce in Chinese ceramics, birds' nests,
\nspices, ivory and handicrafts transformed Banten into a thriving
\nseaport, and once it even rivaled Amsterdam in size and
\nimportance. Today, the harbor is one of the main spots in Java.<\/p>\n
Access to Banten has become very easy since the opening and
\noperation of the Jakarta-Merak toll road, which includes a 26-
\nkilometer toll road linking Jakarta and Tangerang, a four-
\nkilometer Ciujung toll road and 8.4-kilometer Serang toll road.
\nThough not all roads are adequate, this infrastructure totals
\nmore than 100 kilometers in addition to common roads in the area.<\/p>\n
In sea transportation services, Banten has the Merak port,
\nwhich can accommodate 20,000 people in crossing the Sunda Strait
\nto or from Bakauheni in Lampung, Sumatra.<\/p>\n
Efficiency<\/p>\n
However, many industries in Cilegon are in the aromatic-
\nrelated business line, in which they used oil-based raw materials
\nfrom Europe, Taiwan or Japan.<\/p>\n
\"The material is delivered from Singapore as the transit point
\nby using smaller container vessels to private jetties. This is
\nineffective and costly since the jetties are not optimized every
\nday,\" Winardi said.<\/p>\n
He said Jababeka industrial estate in Cilegon would have
\nintegrated facilities, including a seaport which would promote
\nefficiency.<\/p>\n
\"The southern side of the area is situated right by the
\nJakarta-Merak highway. The west part borders with the road that
\nleads to the planned Bojonegara port. And the north part is on
\nthe coast of Java Sea,\" he said, noting the project's good
\nlocation.<\/p>\n
\"He said the project would be expandable to 2,000 hectares by
\nreclamation planned in a longer term.<\/p>\n
A number of foreign investors have shown interest in operating
\nfactories on the estate, but with the current political situation
\nin Indonesia, they just wanted to wait and see, he said.<\/p>\n
\"It's the government's duty how to convince foreign investors
\nto come to Indonesia and to show that the country is stable and
\nsafe,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He said that Jababeka was drafting the estate and studying any
\nenvironmental effects.<\/p>\n
\"We are now planning the design for a water treatment plant, a
\nwaste management plant and shore reclamation,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Group Jababeka manages a 1,573-hectare industrial estate and a
\n1,400-home residential area in Cikarang, West Java. About 70
\npercent of total industries in Cikarang are owned by foreign
\ninvestors.<\/p>\n
Sociocultural<\/p>\n
Winardi said that the project would not have any sociocultural
\nbarriers though many experts were concerned that such development
\nprojects had very little impact on the welfare of the Banten
\npeople.<\/p>\n
As a matter of fact, Banten comprises many impoverished
\nvillages where people live under the poverty line. Development
\nprojects have forced people to move to remote villages with poor
\ninfrastructure, mainly in the southern part of Banten.<\/p>\n
\"There has been land appropriation, but the land was
\nnonproductive soil and few people lived there,\" Winardi said.<\/p>\n
Actually, Banten has two faces. In the northern part of
\nBanten, such as in Cilegon and Anyer, large-scale mining and
\ntourism flourishes. In the southern part, also called old Banten,
\neconomic development is almost stagnant, despite the great
\npotential for growth.<\/p>\n
\"Jababeka's chemical industrial estate project in Cilegon will
\nbe an anchor to developing the surrounding area,\" Winardi said.<\/p>\n
He said that Krakatau Steel, which had developed as a steel-
\nbased industrial zone, was proof that such a project would not be
\na problem for the society in Banten.<\/p>\n
Immigrant workers, already flooded in the region, have not
\ncaused social and cultural conflicts with the locals either, he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
\"Banten people also welcome the improving tourism industry,\"
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
The southern areas of Banten have incredible mining and agro-
\nindustry potential, as well as tourist resources. In addition,
\nthis part of the region has vast deposits of mineral resources,
\nincluding gold, coal, steel and bentonite.<\/p>\n
Local people have been involved in the project development and
\nwill be able to work in many industries when operating, Winardi
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
He said that the newly approved Law on Regional Autonomy would
\nbe an advantage for Banten area.<\/p>\n
In April, the House of Representatives passed Regional
\nAutonomy Law No. 22\/1999, which allows regional administrations
\nand legislatures to manage their own affairs as well increasing
\ntheir freedom and responsibility. The House has also approved the
\nLaw on Intergovernmental Fiscal Balance to allow local
\nauthorities to gain larger parts of state revenue from local
\nresources. Both laws will not become effective until one year
\nafter the President's endorsement.<\/p>",
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