Construction of plants regulated
Construction of plants regulated
JAKARTA (JP): The government announced a ban yesterday on the
construction of plants outside of industrial estates located in
the Tangerang area of West Java for environmental reasons.
"Industrial plants have been crowded in Tangerang and
construction of new factories outside industrial estates will
damage the environment," Minister of Industry Tunky Ariwibowo
told journalists after meeting with President Soeharto at Bina
Graha here yesterday.
Tunky, who has been assigned by the president to coordinate
industrial estate development in the country, said that West Java
alone currently has 19 industrial estates with a total area of
7,300 hectares, of which 2,400 hectares are ready for the
establishment of industrial facilities.
"But only 440 factories have been established on a total area
of 1,300 hectares in the industrial estates," the minister said.
He said the President instructed investors planning to operate
in West Java to construct their industrial facilities in
industrial estates.
"The government is offering easy processing of licenses to
investors planning to set up plants in industrial estates, while
operators of industrial estates will help them deal with
government institutions in license processing," Tunky said.
He said investors can also set up their plants in industrial
estates in other provinces, which generally offer lower prices
for their areas than their competitors in West Java.
Paper
Tunky said he also reported to the President on the latest
developments in the country's paper industry.
"Because prices on the world market are increasing, the
government will gradually lower the duty on paper from its
current level of 20 percent to support the development of
industries using paper as feedstocks," the minister said.
He explained that the price of HVS (printing) paper on the
world market has now increased to US$1,100 per ton from merely
$550 early last year and newsprint to $750 from $480.
He said the government will ask paper producers to guarantee
adequate supplies on the domestic market and encourage downstream
plants to increase their exports, so that the country's paper-
based industries will get higher added value and create more
employment.
Indonesia's 60 paper plants currently have a total production
capacity of 3.72 million tons per annum, while its paper
utilization last year reached only 2.26 million tons, he said.
Indonesia has a much room to increase exports of paper
products, which in 1993 reached only $77 million, or 1.01 percent
of the world's total imports worth $7.6 billion, he added.
According to Tunky, the country currently has 6,400 printing
companies, of which 87 percent are small in size.
The minister said he also reported to the President on the
rising prices of motorcycles and scooters due to sharp increases
in demand.
Indonesia's four motorcycle and scooter companies produced
780,000 units last year, he said. (riz)