Govt to simplify licensing procedures

BEKASI, West Java (JP): Determined to encourage further investment, the government will continue deregulation through the simplification of licensing procedures, Minister of Industry Tunky Ariwibowo said yesterday.

"We are determined to further encourage domestic investment and the relocation (to Indonesia) of multinational corporations by continuing deregulatory measures," Tunky said during an inauguration ceremony for a computer printer plant owned by PT Indonesia Epson Industry in Bekasi, West Java.

He noted that deregulatory measures already taken included the establishment of new entrepots for export-oriented producers, the simplification of export and investment procedures and tariff protection.

Companies operating at such entrepots are exempted from import duties on raw materials and components for the manufacture of their export-oriented products. Foreign companies are now also allowed to hold 100 percent equity in an investment project.

Indonesia Epson Industry is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Seiko Epson Corporation of Japan, which specializes in the production of terminal printers.

The Bekasi plant, which started operations in February with a paid-up capital of US$11 million, is Epson's second factory in Indonesia after its first plant in Batam, Riau.

The Bekasi plant produces 30 types of printer components and assembles three types of printers with monthly production of 100,000 components and 60,000 printers.

The company, which employs 526 workers in Indonesia, expects a turnover of $80 million in 1995.

Tunky said that Indonesia's exports of electronic and telecommunications equipment had increased by an average of 70 percent per annum in recent years; from $267 million in 1990 to $2.28 billion in 1994.

He said there are 65 firms producing data processors and 23 companies manufacturing printers in Indonesia. (kod)