Investments in Jakarta total $2.6 billion

JAKARTA (JP): The Jakarta Investment Coordinating Board announced that foreign and domestic investments approved by the board in the city during the first semester of this year reached Rp 5.68 trillion (US$ 2.6 billion).

The board's deputy head M. Subana Kusika said over the weekend, as quoted by Bisnis Indonesia, that foreign investment commitments during the January-June period comprised 40 projects totaling Rp 1.4 trillion.

Domestic investments approved by the board, for the same period, consisted of 101 projects bringing Rp 4.28 trillion.

Subana said both foreign and domestic investments in the city this year showed reasonable increases compared to the same period last year.

"The increase in the foreign and domestic investments in the city is definitely a result of the favorable investment climate created by the city administration. We expect more foreign and domestic companies to invest in the city in the future," he said.

Domestic investment commitments approved by the board in the city during the first semester of last year consisted of 48 projects which reached Rp 1.8 trillion, while 40 foreign investment projects for the same period totaled US$ 204.5million.

In line with the city masterplan for the 1985/2005 period, Subana said that Jakarta is not open to investment projects which need large land areas and consume enormous amounts of ground water, this due to limitations in space and also serious seawater intrusion.

"If there is an empty plot in the city, the cost required for land appropriation will be so high that it won't be economically feasible," Subana said. The board has encouraged those investors who want to invest in projects that need large plots of land and those who consume large amount of ground water to open their factories in buffer zone areas like Bekasi or Tangerang.

Maruli Tobing, a division head at the board, said the 151 investors primarily invest in the fishery industry, hotel and property businesses and also the service sector.

"The opening of the industries is estimated to generate 21,359 jobs for domestic workers and 8,055 for foreigners," Tobing said.

Major foreign investors operating in the city are from Japan, Hong Kong, the United States, Germany, the Netherlands, England, France, Denmark, Canada, Malaysia and Singapore. (has)