NTB Governor Guarantees Investor-Friendly Regulations for Four Years

West Nusa Tenggara Governor Lalu Muhamad Iqbal has affirmed his administration’s intention to make NTB an investor-friendly province whilst maintaining a balance between economic growth and environmental sustainability. “I can guarantee that for the next four years we will not issue regulations that are unfriendly to investors at the provincial level,” he stated during a discussion on the downstream processing of the shrimp farming industry in Mataram on Friday. Iqbal said that healthy investment must yield profits for business operators, provide benefits for the community, and ensure the sustainability of the ecosystem. He assured that the regional government would maintain policy stability and avoid issuing regulations that hinder the business world in West Nusa Tenggara. Regulatory certainty is a crucial factor in attracting investment to the fisheries sector. “We do not want to earn money now, only for everything to die tomorrow because the environment is ruined. We want fish farms to coexist with tourism,” Iqbal stressed. The NTB government continues to push for downstream processing so that fishery products can be processed and exported directly from the region without needing to be sold in raw form, thereby increasing economic revenue for West Nusa Tenggara. Head of the NTB Marine and Fisheries Office, Muslim, said the government has prepared various concrete measures to support investment, starting from the preparation of feasibility studies and technical planning documents for shrimp downstream processing, and is ready to facilitate land, including a potential 100 hectares at Lombok Airport. The NTB government confirmed it will soon form an integrated team to accelerate the investment licensing process as a priority support in speeding up capital investment permits. In 2025, West Nusa Tenggara produced more than 198,000 tonnes of vannamei shrimp. This abundant production volume serves as a strong foundation for the development of the shrimp processing industry. Chairman of Shrimp Club Indonesia, Andi Tamsil, views regulatory certainty as the primary need for business operators when investing in West Nusa Tenggara. He emphasised that shrimp fry must be certified disease-free and the use of banned antibiotics must be avoided so that shrimp products from West Nusa Tenggara are accepted in the international market.