Aussie firm enters RI tourism business

JAKARTA (JP): PT Banten Tourism Development Corp. has set up a joint venture with Axiom Properties Ltd. of Australia to build tourism facilities at the Tanjung Lesung tourism resort, Banten, West Java.

Chief Commissioner of PT Banten Tourism Sudwikatmono said the joint venture agreement was signed here Thursday by Dany Iskandar, the executive director of PT Banten Tourism, and David Pringle, the managing director of Axiom Properties.

The signing was witnessed by Minister of Tourism, Post and Telecommunications Joop Ave, Australian Ambassador to Indonesia John McCarthy, Sudwikatmono and Billy Ibrahim, chief commissioner and commissioner of PT Banten Tourism respectively.

Sudwikatmono said that the joint venture -- called PT Tanjung Lesung Leisure Industry -- would develop around 140 hectares of the 1,500 hectares currently controlled by PT Banten Tourism into tourist resorts.

Pringle said PT Tanjung Lesung would build marine parks, piers and golf courses on the 140-hectare site with an investment of US$115 million within the next three years. The first phase is scheduled to cost $54 million.

"The piers will start operating in the middle of next year," he said.

He said Axiom Properties would initially own 21.6 percent of the total joint venture. "But after a year Axiom will increase its share to 49 percent," he said, adding, "The tourism business is promising here."

Despite the bright prospects, however, investors were not keen to invest in the sector because of poor infrastructure in many parts of the country, he said.

Pringle said that the government should improve the infrastructure in order to attract foreign investors.

Sudwikatmono said PT Banten Tourism would operate the Tanjung Lesung resort as part of its 1,500-hectare tourism site. (bnt)