Joint team set up to realign estates

Joint team set up to realign estates

JAKARTA (JP): The National Land Agency (BPN) will soon set up
an inter-ministerial team to realign industrial estates as a
follow up to the instruction from the minister of agrarian
affairs on the stoppage of location permits for new plant
projects.

Marjudi Sastro Wihardjo, the BPN director for land reform,
announced yesterday that the team would include representatives
of the ministry of industry and trade and the office of the
minister for investment development.

"The team will study the problems faced by investors in the
development of industrial estates," Marjudi said.

State Minister for Agrarian Affairs Soni Harsono instructed
agrarian offices throughout the country last month to stop
issuing location permits for industrial projects planned outside
industrial estates.

Soni instructed that all new industrial projects in the
Bekasi, Tangerang, Bogor and Krawang regencies in West Java must
be established in industrial estates.

Marjudi said the inter-ministerial team would take stock of
location permits already issued for industrial projects planned
to be established outside industrial estates.

"The team will look into their problems and try to work out
solutions in an attempt to facilitate the realization of
investment projects," he said.

"New industrial projects outside the four regencies must also
be set up in industrial estates, except when there are no
industrial estates already developed to accommodate new
factories," the directive stated.

The instruction was issued apparently in a bid to accelerate
the implementation of 178 industrial estates with 53,000 hectares
already licensed throughout the country.

So far, only 17,995 of the 53,000 hectares licensed for
industrial estates have been acquired by developers and of that
total only around 6,370 hectares have been developed into
industrial plots ready to accommodate factory buildings. (vin)