Electronic firms invest S$100m in Bintan Park
BINTAN, Riau (JP): Eight electronic manufacturers from Singapore and Japan signed agreements here yesterday to set up production facilities worth S$99.6 million (about US$66.5 million) at the Bintan Industrial Estate (BIE) on Bintan island, Riau.
Minister of Industry and Trade Tunky Ariwibowo welcomed the agreements, saying it marked the shift of the industrial estate from labor-intensive companies to high technology industries.
"The coming of the new companies will give added value to this industrial estate," said Tunky, who officiated the signing ceremony together with Singaporean Minister of Trade and Industry Lee Yock Suan.
Present at the ceremony were, among others, Indonesian Ambassador to Singapore HBL Mantiri, Riau's Vice Governor Rivaie Rachman and vice chairman of the Salim Group Anthony Salim.
BIE was originally planned as a domestic industrial estate for labor intensive industries, such as the garment and furniture industries. There are currently 10 garment and furniture producers in operation there. They have invested a total S$20 million since the industrial estate opened in 1993.
BIE is being developed and operated by a consortium comprising the Salim Group, Singapore Technologies Industrial Corporation and Jurong Town Corporation International of Singapore.
BIE's director Handoko said five of the eight electronic tenants had began production at the estate. They are Indonesian- incorporated companies of Japanese firm Sumitomo Metal Mining, Bon Mark, Singapore-owned HongGuan Technologies, German Plastic Technology, and EscoMicro.
Yoshikawa, another Japanese business group, is setting up its manufacturing operation in the estate, its first overseas production unit, and will begin production of semiconductors in February, 1998.
Loudspeaker manufacturer Foster from Japan is also expanding into the BIE from Batamindo Industrial Estate on nearby Batam island.
D'Mac, a Singaporean firm, is also a new tenant at the BIE and will produce computer disc drives.
With the eight new tenants, the number of companies operating in the BIE now stand at 18, of which 14 are now operational.
The BIE has embarked on its second development phase and is developing 55 hectares of land, 60,000 square meters of which will be used as factory space. The second phase is expected to be completed in April 1998.
Total development costs to date is S$202 million. When completed the amount of factory space will total 84,000 square meters.
BIE has also developed a residential area for executives, covering around six hectares.
Handoko said the executive village would have 400 resort- style, semi-detached houses and studio apartments, which are being built right in the center of the estate.
Vice Governor Rivaie said in his speech that the rise in the foreign investments in his province was expected to greatly contribute to the national economy.
He said economic growth in the province had been very encouraging.
The annual economic growth rate in the province reached 9.4 percent in the last four years, well exceeding the initial target of 7.5 percent.
Lee, the Singaporean minister of trade and industry, praised BIE's operator for its success in developing and promoting the industrial estate.
In his speech, he also praised the Indonesian government's efforts in supporting investors in the new industrial estate.
"Like the other joint Singapore-Indonesia projects in the Riau province, BIE will serve as a showcase of the successful bilateral cooperation our two countries," he said.
BIE comes under the framework of the economic cooperation between the governments of Indonesia and Singapore, which was signed in 1990.
Also in Bintan, a consortium made of Indonesian and Singaporean companies including, among others, the Salim Group and Singaporean Technologies Industrial Ltd., is developing a giant tourist resort, named Bintan Beach International, on 23,000 hectares of land.
Bintan is about 45 minutes from Singapore by ferry. (jsk)