BIC plans to expands Batam industrial estate

BIC plans to expands Batam industrial estate

JAKARTA (JP): Batamindo Industrial Corporation (BIC) will
expand its Batam island industrial park by 30 hectares to meet an
expected foreign investment increase, a BIC executive said
Saturday.

John Sulistiawan, the industrial estate developer's manager,
said the 30-hectare industrial estate, now being built, was
scheduled to open in the middle of next year.

The demand for investment sites on the island, the country's
largest industrial bonded zone, would continue to increase in
line with increased foreign investments in Indonesia, he said.

The Batamindo industrial estates hosts 87 foreign companies
and another 100 multinationals are expected in the next two
years, he said.

PT Batamindo Investment Corporation, a joint venture between
Indonesia's Salim Group and two Singapore companies, has the
island's largest industrial park. It is about 500 hectares.

John said Batamindo's investment in industrial facilities and
infrastructure like roads, water treatment and telecommunication
facilities would increase to about S$800 million (US$615 million)
in 1998 from about S$425 now million because of the expansion.

"For example, the industrial estate, has a 100-megawatt power
plant," he said. Batamindo, which recently received ISO
certification, provides workers' dormitories on the estate.

About 55,000 workers, mostly women, work on the estate and
nearly half stay in the dormitories, he said.

Most workers come from Java and nearby islands on two to
three-year contracts. (hen)