Natuna to become center for industry and business

Natuna to become center for industry and business

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Research and Technology B.J. Habibie
said yesterday Natuna island would be developed and become one of
Asia's main business and industry centers.

Habibie denied the Agency for Natuna Island Development, which
he chairs, would make the island a competitor to Singapore and
Hong Kong.

"Natuna will become a complement to both of them," he said.

Habibie said Natuna island had the potential to become "the
Houston of Asia" in the next century because of its strategic
location in the middle of busy trade traffic between Southeast
Asian countries and the developed East Asian countries like
Japan, Taiwan and South Korea.

"Natuna will be quite different from Batam island," he said.

Habibie also chairs the agency which developed Batam which is
located close to Singapore.

Habibie said the money to develop Natuna would not be linked
to the Natuna gas project but come from the state budget.

The Natuna gas field, which contains 222 trillion cubic feet
of natural gas, will be developed by a consortium including the
state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina.

The island's spatial master plan, which President Soeharto
approved last April, for the 172,000-hectare island includes a
5,000-hectare shipbuilding and maritime industrial area, a 1,000-
hectare airport complex, a 14,000-hectare microelectronics and
industrial area, a 1,000 hectare commercial harbor and a 6,000-
hectare agro-industrial area.

Several seaside areas, measuring 10,000 hectares, will be
turned into tourist centers and a military base will be built on
5,000 hectares.

The island has 30,000 people who live by fishing. (jsk)