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)