New provinces vow better policy to lure investors
JAKARTA (JP): Regional administrations of newly established provinces Banten, Gorontalo, and Bangka Belitung pledged to formulate a better investment policy to compete with other provinces in attracting investors.
Johni Triana, the head of the Banten province Economic and Development Board said that the current administration was still mapping out potential sectors for investment along with examining its problems.
"We have to make a careful study so that our investment policy provides business assurance for investors," he said in a seminar on the investment prospects of the three provinces held by Harvest International consulting firm in Jakarta on Thursday.
Although Banten is much more advanced than the other two new provinces, the province still has to work harder to ensure that it will be able to compete with more established provinces in attracting investors.
He said that Banten, formerly part of West Java province, had to improve its roads especially in rural areas to encourage investors to invest in the province's agricultural, mining and tourism sectors.
According to Johni, the province, which hosts several major industrial giants such as PT Krakatau Steel and PT Chandra Asri, is also a strategic location for farming and mining activities.
In addition to easy land transportation access from Jakarta and Sumatra island, the province has several seaports and airports.
The Soekarno Hatta Airport, and the interisland seaports in Merak, Cigading, Anyer, Bojonegara and Labuan are located in the province.
Compared to Banten, the two other new provinces, Gorontalo and Bangka Belitung seem to be less fortunate.
Nelson Pomalingo, the head of Gorontalo province Regional Development Planning Board said infrastructure in the province was still inadequate to support business activities.
The province has three interisland seaports and an airport able to accommodate a 28-seat Fokker-28 aircraft but conditions were still far from perfect to fulfill investors' needs, he said.
"That's why the improvement of the seaports and airports are our main priority. We hope they can be upgraded within two years," he told the seminar.
Gorontalo, which became a province in February this year after separating from North Sulawesi province, has many things to offer to investors.
According to him the province is a good location for agribusiness such as cocoa and coconut plantations. The province, which has a 400-kilometer coastal area, is also good for tourism and fishing activities.
"Several export-oriented companies operate in Gorontalo," he said, adding that coconut oil and fish production sectors gave a large contribution to the province's revenues,
Meanwhile Amir Muchasim, Bangka Belitung Island's governor said that the province's biggest problem was the lack of electricity supply.
He said that the province, which was formed early this year after separating from South Sumatra, needed US$200 million to build a new power plant.
"We have proposed the building of the power plant to state- owned electricity company (PLN) but there is no response yet to the proposal," he told The Jakarta Post.
He added that another concern of the administration was to guarantee security in protecting ships from attacks by pirates who were widespread in the provinces seas.
Bangka and Belitung, the world largest's tin producer, has great economic potential.
Amir said the province's coastal areas could be developed into tourism sites while its productive land would be utilized for the development of oil palm plantations.
The province is supported by two seaports in Bangka, one in Belitung, and two airports in Pangkalpinang, Bangka and in Tangjung Pandan, Belitung.
Commenting on investment procedures, administration officials in all three provinces said that they had established a special board to simplify procedures.
The board will also provide incentives to encourage investors to invest in the provinces. (05)