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.