North Sumatra Investment Realisation Continues to Rise Over the Past Three Years
Investment realisation in North Sumatra Province has continued to rise over the past three years. In 2023, it reached Rp 39 trillion with a labour absorption of 76,230 workers. A year later, it rose to Rp 48.2 trillion with 46,232 workers employed. In 2025, investment realisation again increased to Rp 58.5 trillion, employing 60,133 workers, exceeding the Badan Koordinasi Penanaman Modal (BKPM) target of Rp 53.67 trillion.
Given this positive trend, North Sumatra Governor Bobby Nasution has set a target for investment realisation of Rp 100 trillion by 2029. The target is part of contributing to national economic growth of 8 percent in 2029. The region contributing the most to investment realisation is Simalungun Regency, thanks to the Seimangke Special Economic Zone (KEK). It is followed by Medan City, Deliserdang Regency, South Tapanuli and Langkat.
The country with the largest investment realisation in North Sumatra is currently Singapore at 61 percent. Then the Netherlands, Malaysia, the United Kingdom and China, according to Damar Wulan, Coordinator of Investment at the North Sumatra Investment and One-Stop Integrated Services Agency (Dinas Penanaman Modal dan Pelayanan Terpadu Satu Pintu Sumut), in a press conference at the governor’s office on Wednesday, 4 March 2026.
The dominant sectors contributing to investment in 2025 are the chemical and pharmaceutical industries, transportation, warehousing and telecommunications, the food industry, electricity, gas and water, and other services. Regarding the Rp 100 trillion target, Damar is optimistic that it can be achieved through various measures and strategies. One of them is to boost regional competitiveness, strengthen supervision of business operators in 33 districts/cities with a target of at least 177 operators.
Additionally, technical guidance for the Investment Activity Report (LKPM) will be conducted regularly for 200 business actors per quarter, guiding them to report investment realisation online using the Online Single Submission Risk-Based Approach system, or OSS-RBA.
“Many business operators have already reported their capital investment activities, but some are not accurate, so we are carrying out marathon training to ensure they understand how to fill LKPM correctly,” said Damar.
The North Sumatra Investment Agency also facilitates resolving licensing issues for 30 business operators to accelerate their business activities. “For every operator whose licensing is problematic, we will fix it,” he said.
To accelerate the achievement of the investment target, in accordance with Government Regulation Number 28 of 2025, a Task Force for Accelerating Business Implementation and a Working Group for Accelerating Regional Investment Competitiveness Improvement were formed.
“We will also maximise the dissemination of Regional Regulation Number 3 of 2023 on Providing Incentives and Ease of Investment to 120 business operators. We encourage regencies and cities to establish local regulations (perda, perbub or perwal) related to incentives because it is better when the region makes these rules. More incentives can be provided to business operators,” said Damar again.
In terms of promotion, the North Sumatra Investment Agency is digitalising by revitalising the investment promotion platform, such as the development of an investment project e-catalogue, GIS-based investment opportunities database, virtual investment tour, and optimisation of professional digital media. Promotion strategies are also more segmented by sector and target investor country.
“Following the governor’s directive, we will also prepare a single study document on the exploitation of regional assets that can be offered to investors to boost investment. For example, a sport centre asset covering 300 hectares, of which 100 hectares will be studied for documentation,” concluded Damar.