Govt to open gate for tourists with vehicles
Govt to open gate for tourists with vehicles
JAKARTA (JP): The government will soon open a gateway for
foreign tourists coming into Indonesia with vehicles through the
Strait of Malacca, Coordinating Minister for Industry and Trade
Hartarto said yesterday.
"A joint decree of four ministers and the national police
chief will be issued in the near future to allow ferries carrying
tourists with their vehicles crossing the strait," Hartarto told
a seminar on the natural resource potential of Aceh province.
He said Aceh, on the northern-most of Sumatra island,
therefore, should determine which of its ports can be used as the
gateway.
Aceh is one of the two provinces in Sumatra, which are
involved in the subregional growth triangle, which also includes
nearby provinces of states in Malaysia (Kedah, Perak, Penang and
Perlis) and Thailand (Satun, Songkha, Yala, Narathiwat and
Pattani).
The other province involved in the triangle is North Sumatra.
Business cooperation in the growth triangle include five
projects in trade, agriculture and fisheries, industry and
energy, tourism, telecommunications and transportation.
Hartarto also said that the National Development Planning
Board, the Ministry of Public Works, the Ministry of
Transportation and the Ministry of Tourism, Post and
Telecommunications will review the plans on the development of
infrastructure in northern Sumatra, including Aceh, to facilitate
business cooperation in the triangle, officially called the
Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand Growth Triangle (IMT-GT).
Hartarto and Malaysia's Chief Minister Perlis Abdul Hamid
Pawanteh and Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister Supachai
Panitchpakdi, in a meeting in Medan, North Sumatra, in June 1994
agreed to eliminate any obstacles to economic cooperation in the
area.
He urged executives of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and
Industry to cooperate with local businesspeople in Aceh to
establish new businesses in cooperation with partners from
Thailand and Malaysia.
The IMT-GT area, including Aceh, according to a study of the
Asian Development Bank, promises profits to investors because it
has abundant resources, while the countries involved have a high
degree of complementarity for cooperation with each other.
The bank has identified some 50 projects, policies and
programs which are feasible for cooperation in the IMT-GT areas.
Meanwhile, Aceh Governor Syamsuddin Mahmud told the seminar
yesterday that his province needs total investments of Rp 2.1
trillion (US$924 million) to support its target of 7.5 percent in
economic growth in the 1996 to 1997 period.
He said that 45 percent of the investment will be provided by
the government and the local administration, while the remaining
55 percent is expected from the private sector. (kod)