Investments turn sour in Kendari<\/p>\n
Hasrul, The Jakarta Post\/Kendari<\/p>\n
Two business partners of holding company PT Artha Graha have
\npulled out their stakes in projects in Kendari, Southeast
\nSulawesi, blaming a public outcry about the group's investment
\nventures in the area.<\/p>\n
They are property investor PT Bumi Artha Makmur and timber and
\nrattan processor PT Sumber Air Sultra.<\/p>\n
The companies had totally halted all investment activities in
\npartnership with Artha Graha, such as the three-star Kendari
\nBeach Hotel construction, despite it being 80 percent complete,
\nwith investments reaching tens of billions of rupiah, Artha Graha
\nconsortium group chairman Robert Kasenda said on Saturday.<\/p>\n
All activities had also stopped in the timber and rattan
\nventure together with Southeast Sulawesi Village Cooperatives
\nCenter.<\/p>\n
\"Two of our business partners have withdrawn their investments
\nin Kendari as was conveyed in the official letter submitted to
\nthe Southeast Sulawesi provincial administration,\" Kasenda said.<\/p>\n
The planned pullout was final and could well be followed by
\nArtha Graha's 17 other partners, he said.<\/p>\n
Kasenda blamed the pullout on a climate \"uncondusive to
\nbusiness\" which he blamed on one-sided media reporting of the
\ngroup's ventures.<\/p>\n
Reports have revealed the construction of the Hotel Kendari
\nBeach was illegal as the group had not acquired a building permit
\nfrom the local administration.<\/p>\n
Others have accused the consortium of dividing the land into
\nlots and illegally using property documents as loan collateral.<\/p>\n
\"The local media have been lopsidedly reporting news about the
\npresence of the Artha Graha Consortium since Nov. 22. The
\nreports, whether they included comments from the public or from
\nthe administration, were clearly detrimental to us. A public
\nopinion was formed saying that our investment activities were not
\nlegal,\" Kasenda said.<\/p>\n
He said all of the company's business activities in the
\nprovince had been initiated through memorandums of understanding
\nwith the Southeast Sulawesi administration.<\/p>\n
The pullout was confirmed by PT Bumi Artha Makmur director
\nTommy Bungaran.<\/p>\n
\"We are resolute because we consider the investment climate in
\nKendari as not conducive,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He said the much-publicized criticisms in the local media had
\nconcerned the legalization process of the businesses they had
\ninvested in.<\/p>\n
\"As a company in which property is one of our fields, we
\nunderstand the need to secure building permits for construction
\npurposes. But in line with the Kendari Mayor's commitment, we
\nwere asked to build the hotel first, then after completion a
\npermit would be issued to us. The mayor's commitment is what we
\nhold on to, and we were not the only ones facilitated in this
\nway, other businesses were too,\" Tommy said.<\/p>\n
The reports and accusations had caused unease in many of the
\ninvestors grouped in the project and some of them had panicked,
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
Not only that, requests by several investors grouped in the
\nconsortium for it to immediately pull out of the province had
\ncaught the attention of others.<\/p>\n
\"Those statements have made everyone feel uneasy and made the
\nsituation even more tense,\" Tommy said.<\/p>\n
The Kendari municipal administration said it regretted the
\nmove and requested the consortium to review its plan to pull out
\nits investments.<\/p>\n
\"The administration has thus far supported investment
\nactivities in the area and it would be proper if the investors
\nreconsidered their plans to withdraw,\" Kendari Mayor Masyhur
\nMasie said at his office on Saturday.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/investments-turn-sour-in-kendari-1447893297",
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