Tue, 31 Aug 2010

From: AFP

Jakarta. South Korea’s biggest tire producer Hankook Tire plans to invest 1.2 billion dollars to build a manufacturing plant in Indonesia, a report said Thursday.

The Seoul-based company aims to start construction at the end of the year and produce 15 million tyres annually, Indonesia Investment Coordinating Board chief Gita Wirjawan was quoted as saying by Bisnis Indonesia newspaper.

“They’ve informed us that they will likely choose Indonesia,” Wirjawan said.

“Hankook is a huge player. Indonesia will become the production base for the world, not only for Asia, but also for Europe and the US.”

Wirjawan said Hankook had chosen Indonesia over Vietnam and had studied several areas near the capital as possible locations for the plant.

Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest economy, is seeking billions of dollars in foreign investment to help it achieve a target of 7.0-percent growth by 2014.

Output however is being held back by rampant corruption, legal uncertainty and poor infrastructure.