Five foreign firms eye RI biotech centers
Five foreign firms eye RI biotech centers
Moch. N. Kurniawan
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta
At least five foreign companies have expressed interest in a
planned biotechnology research center on Rempang island, off
Singapore, a government official said.
Ashwin Sasongko, secretary to the minister of research and
technology, said on Wednesday the firms came from Japan, the
United States, Germany, Cuba and Iran.
"These companies have expressed interest in our plan to build
a 500-hectare biotechnology research center on Rempang island,"
Ashwin said.
The government plans to construct an integrated biotechnology
research, development and commercial zone on 500 hectares of land
on Rempang island in Batam, Riau.
"Each foreign institution or company can rent about five
hectares of land in the compound to do research about our
country's biodiversity," Ashwin said during an international
workshop on the planned research center, to be called BioIsland.
He said Japan had expressed interest in developing a center to
study medicines, the U.S. agricultural product, Germany marine
life and medicines, and Cuba pharmaceutical products.
He said the BioIsland project was part of efforts to compete
with neighboring Singapore and Malaysia, which both have similar
research centers.
Ashwin said companies taking part in the BioIsland project
would enjoy tax incentives, good infrastructure and easy access
to the country's biodiversity.
"If researchers bring our biodiversity to Singapore, for
example, their activities may be illegal and the environment
there might not suit our flora and fauna," he said.
If foreign firms or government institutions establish
biotechnology research centers on Rempang island, Indonesia will
receive concrete benefits in the form of royalties and taxes,
Ashwin said.
He said infrastructure and some facilities would be built on
the island beginning this December and scheduled for completion
by 2007, but tenants would have to establish their own research
centers.
The counselor of science, technology and the environment at
the Germany Embassy in Jakarta, Klaus Michael Rottman, and the
director general of the Agricultural Biotechnology Research
Institute of Iran, Behzad Ghareyazie, both expressed interest in
BioIsland.
However, Ismid Hadad of the Indonesian Biodiversity Foundation
(Yayasan Kehati) questioned the plans for BioIsland, saying
Indonesia was not ready to develop a project of this magnitude.
"Indonesia is still a baby in biotechnology, so it should not
try to build castles in the air. If we force ourselves to do
this, we could suffer another failure like the failed megaproject
that was airplane maker PT Dirgantara Indonesia," he said.
He also doubted Indonesia would reap any concrete benefits
from BioIsland, as the country would only provide natural
resources and infrastructure but not human resources.
"Why don't we maximize the existing research center in
Serpong, Banten, instead of establishing a new one?" he asked.