House Commission VII: Industrial Estate Bill aims to better organise industrialisation

The drafting of the Bill on Industrial Estates currently being prepared aims to organise industrialisation in the country so that it becomes better and more orderly.

“In fact, industrial estates are a great hope for the nation,” said Saleh Partaonan Daulay, head of the working visit team of the House Commission VII working committee on the Industrial Estates Bill, during a visit to Karawang International Industrial City (KIIC), West Java, on Wednesday.

By managing industrial estates, the government is striving to ensure that industrialisation continues to improve. This is necessary because industrial estates have so far contributed both to employment absorption and to boosting regional economies.

He said there are currently around 180 industrial estates in Indonesia that are quite productive in absorbing labour.

“If one industrial estate is able to employ, say, one thousand to two thousand people, then with 180 estates the labour absorption is extraordinarily large,” he said.

For this reason, the government needs to provide oversight so that industrial estate operators feel protected, one aspect of which will be regulated in the legislation currently being drafted by the House Commission VII working committee on the Industrial Estates Bill.

Daulay expressed hope that investors will have confidence in the Indonesian government from a legal standpoint, so that whatever they do in the country and whatever type of investment they make is truly secure. They can then earn profits as they expect.

“We certainly expect a reciprocal impact from that investment oversight. One of them is labour absorption for local communities, and then corporate social responsibility. In that way, communities feel the benefits of the presence of companies operating in industrial estates,” he said.

According to him, investors are also entitled to incentives such as easier permit processing, tax reductions or other types of incentives, made commensurate with what they have given to the community.