Economic, political stability still makes RI attractive

JAKARTA (JP): A South Korean business executive said last week Indonesia remained attractive to investors due to its economic and political stability.

"In addition to its political and economic stability, procedures for investment under foreign investment schemes in Indonesia are also good and not too complicated," president of the Hanjung group, Park Un-suh, said Friday.

Park said Hanjung was one of South Korea's leading companies in construction and heavy industry, supplying construction materials to 70 percent of South Korea's cement factories.

In Indonesia, Park said, Hanjung had designed and constructed PT Semen Nusantara's cement plant in Cilacap, Central Java, which was inaugurated Thursday by President Soeharto.

"It was one of the biggest-ever plants to be designed and built by Hanjung," he was quoted by Antara as saying.

Park said the company was building the sixth cement plant of PT Semen Cibinong, West Java, with an annual capacity of 2.4 million tons of cement.

The plant was scheduled for completion in February.

Hanjung would soon build a shopping complex in Bandar Lampung, Lampung, with a total investment of US$15 million, he added.

The Investment Coordinating Board had approved the construction of the shopping complex, which was scheduled to start operation in March 1998, said Park.

The company's vice president for machinery and plant, Sin Sang-hong, also said the prospect of developing cement factories in Indonesia was bright.

"The prospect is good since the demand for cement both at home and abroad is picking up," he said.

Hanjung had also constructed cement plants in Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, China and Vietnam, he said.

Sin said besides investment in the cement industry, Indonesia was also attractive for investment in power generation.

Recently, the London-based Economists Intelligence Unit gave a poor rating to Indonesia's investment climate, downgrading Indonesia's political risk rating from C to D, one level above the lowest rating of E (very risky).

The agency rated Indonesia as politically risky as China, Pakistan and Sri Langka in Asia.

Also, the Hong Kong-based Political and Economic Risk Consultancy Ltd. recently questioned Indonesia's investment climate as it rated Indonesia Asia's most corrupt country. (jsk)