Chinese investment 'may reach $3b this year'

Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

In line with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's visit to China last month to boost bilateral trade and investment between the two countries, Chinese businesses investment this year has been estimated to reach some US$3 billion.

An executive with the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin)'s Chinese Committee, Mohammad Toha, said on Monday that in this year's first semester, Chinese investment had reached about $1 billion.

"We have estimated that the investment will grow to some $3 billion this year," he said after accompanying executives from China National Machinery & Equipment Import Export Corp. (CMEC) to visit Vice President Jusuf Kalla.

Most of the businessmen are engaged in the energy sector, he added.

According to Toha, total Chinese investment in Indonesia has reached over $6 billion -- mostly in the infrastructure, energy, agriculture and food sectors. The figure represented an over 21- fold increase compared to six years ago.

During his visit to China, Susilo and Chinese President Hu Jintao had pledged to triple bilateral trade to $30 billion over the next five years.

China is Indonesia's fourth biggest export destination. Last year's total bilateral trade amounted to over US$8.7 billion, with an annual growth of 18.6 percent in the last five years.

In the first three months of 2005, total trade between the two countries reached $2.7 billion, up 43.4 percent from the corresponding period last year.

Elsewhere, Toha said that during a discussion with Vice President Kalla, CMEC had conveyed its interest to participate in the government-sponsored infrastructure projects this year, including the construction of toll roads, bridges, railways and ports.

"CMEC plans to invest in Indonesia soon. However, they could not disclose the amount of the investment yet as they are still conducting several feasibility studies for certain projects," he said.

CMEC is one of China's largest state companies engaging in the machinery and infrastructure sector with annual sales worth more than $15 billion.