Bekasi investment maintains steady pace

Bekasi investment maintains steady pace

Wahyuana, Bekasi

Slowly but surely is an apt description of the growth of industry
in Bekasi, a developing administration east of Jakarta.

Many industrial zone operators in Bekasi, Karawang and
Cikampek subdistricts acknowledge that business is improving,
despite the fact that the country has witnessed a decline in
foreign investment nationwide.

"Although we cannot compare current conditions with the golden
era from 1995 to 1996, when dozens of new investors invested in
Bekasi in one year, we have nothing to be worried about," said
Johannes Archiadi, deputy chairman of the Association of
Industrial Zones Businesspeople (HKI).

In a recent interview with The Jakarta Post, Archiadi, who is
director of PT Besland Pertiwi, which manages the 2,000 hectare
Bukit Indah Town Industrial Zone in Cikampek, said that two
foreign investors had opened factories in Bukit Indah Town during
the first semester of this year.

He said that Japan-based automotive manufacturers Honda and
Hino had invested some Rp 300 billion (US$33.7 million) in total.

Currently, there are 70 factories in Bukit Indah Town, which
together employ more than 13,000 people.

Separately, Hendra Lesmana of MM 2100 Industrial Town told the
Post that the industrial zone had six new occupants, while some
of the existing ones had expanded their factories during the past
six months. "Several industries are also ready to enter MM 2100,
pending approval from the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM)."

Tjetjep Prasetya -- director of PT East Jakarta Industrial
Park and manager of the East Jakarta Industrial Park (EJIP) in
Cikarang -- added that the industrial zone had been fully
occupied by 86 transnational firms since it opened in 1995.

"The future of investment in Indonesia is not gloomy -- don't
be paranoid. Look at our industrial zone, which never loses an
occupant," he remarked.

According to data compiled by West Java's BKPM, some 48
percent of Rp 10.8 trillion in investment in 2003 was invested in
Bekasi's industrial zones.

As a supporting town for the capital city of Jakarta, Bekasi
has become a strategic place for industrial development.

HKI executive Fahmi Shahab, said that few other smaller
industrial zones had expanded to lure investors by offering more
services.

"Many managers of industrial zones are not only selling land
but leasing it short term, say three years, for example. Some
others are leasing warehouses as well," he revealed.

The Jababeka Industrial Zone in Cikarang had earlier developed
its 1,570 hectare area as an integrated community area. Many non-
industrial facilities, such as low-cost housing, sports
facilities, a trade center, a hotel, a recreational park and an
amusement center, as well as a school, have been built to attract
investors.

Industrial Zones in Bekasi

Name Management Area (in hectares) Occupants Workers

Bekasi Fajar PT Bekasi Fajar Industrial Estate 200 14 2,269

EJIP PT East Jakarta Industrial Park 320 86 35,350

Kawasan Industri Gobel PT Gobel Dharma Nusantara 54 not available n.a.

Bekasi International Industrial City PT Hyundai Inti Development 200 111 10,822

Jababeka Cikarang PT Kawasan Industri Jababeka Tbk. 1,570 1,008 150,000

Lippo Cikarang Industrial Park PT Lippo Cikarang Tbk. 1,000 306 13,350

MM 2100 Industrial Town PT Megalopolis Manunggal Ind. Dev. 1,000 136 47,250

Patria Manunggal Industrial Estates PT Patria Manunggal Jaya 220 n.a. n.a.

From various sources