Cirebon regency to build Rp 150b industrial park

Nana Rukmana, The Jakarta Post, Cirebon, West Java

The Cirebon administration is planning to build an international industrial park in Astanajapura subdistrict in a move to attract more domestic and foreign investors and to accelerate the regency's economic growth.

A preliminary study shows the project will cost some Rp 150 billion (US$18.75 million) and it will be completed by 2007.

"The administration is doing a feasibility study on the project," deputy Cirebon regent Dedi Supardi told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

He said that his office had prepared over 2,000 hectares of land for the construction of the industrial park in Astanajapura, which is adjacent to West Java's northern coastal area that serves as Java's main highway.

Supardi said the strategic location of the project is expected to provide investors with easy access to several main seaports on Java island, including Tanjung Priok in Jakarta, Tanjung Emas in the Central Java capital of Semarang, and Tanjung Perak in East Java capital of Surabaya.

He called on domestic and foreign businesspeople to invest and build factories in the industrial park in order to help tackle the unemployment problem in the regency which is home to around 2,134,000 people.

Their investment could also help accelerate economic growth in Cirebon, he added.

However, Supardi admitted that attracting investors was not an easy task amid widespread security concerns across the crisis- ridden country.

To lure investors, the Cirebon administration has to prepare key infrastructure, including roads, electricity and water facilities, he said.

Also, the local government has to deal with some investment- related problems that often discourage businesspeople from investing in Cirebon, he said.

"We must combat the red tape in bureaucracy, and guarantee their security," Supardi added.

He said that his administration had invited several investors from the United States, South Korea and China.

Initially, the foreign investors had expressed interest in investing in Cirebon, but they eventually withdrew their plans, citing many lengthy procedures in the regency's bureaucracy, he added.

"They also were concerned with security in Indonesia," Supardi said, pointing to the rampant sectarian and ethnic fighting across the country after the downfall of Soeharto's regime in 1998.

Cirebon is home to several major foreign investors, including PT British American Tobacco, a major cigarette maker.

The port town is also known for its rattan industry with between 1,000 and 1,400 rattan containers being shipped overseas per month.