Cirebon regency to build Rp 150b industrial park
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.