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)