Tangerang offers secure home for investors

Tangerang offers secure home for investors

The regional autonomy law, which was introduced two years ago, has woken up most of the regencies in the country from their long slumber.

Tangerang regency, one of four regencies in the newly established Banten province, is no exception. With 2.73 million people, 29 districts and 340 subdistricts, the regency is one of the favorite destinations for both local and foreign investors.

The regency, which celebrates its 59th anniversary today (December 27), imposes practically no restrictions on business activities, except those banned by the central government.

Opportunities for small, medium and large-scale manufacturing industries, housing estates, trade and services, as well as shopping centers, tourism, agribusiness and fishing are wide open, because under the existing master plan, about 40 percent of the total land area of 111,038 hectares has been designated for such business activities.

At present, the regency is home of hundreds of small, medium and large-size firms, which are mostly involved in the production of electronic goods, leather products, healthcare products and other consumer goods.

The regency has provided about 8,000 hectares of land for industrial activities. About 3,000 hectares of this land, which cover several districts including Cikupa, Balaraja, Pasar Kamis, Serpong and Legok, have been designated for the development of industrial estates.

As of December 2002, only 2,500 hectares of the existing industrial land allocation has been used.

The regency's industrial activities have rapidly grown thanks to its strategic location and unlimited supply of manpower. This has significantly helped spur the regency's economic growth, which reached 9.26 percent in 1997. Although the onset of the country's monetary crisis in early 1998 slowed down business activities, economic growth remained high at 5.09 percent. Growth is projected to increase to 5.7 percent this year and 6.7 percent in 2003 as the economy recovers.

The economic crisis also resulted in a decline in the value of the regency's exports. The value of exports, which reached as high as US$78.49 million in 1999, dropped to $61.35 million in 2000 and $49.11 million in 2001. However, total investment increased to about Rp 1 trillion in 2001 from Rp 29.5 billion. A large part of this investment went on the development of small and medium-scale industries.

The Tangerang regency administration is working hard to further stimulate the economy by focusing on the development of infrastructure and on the simplification of investment licensing procedures.

Tangerang's regent Agus Djunara and his assistants have, for example, initiated and laid down new development concepts to further encourage industrial activities in the regency. With the new concepts, the regency will focus on the development of infrastructure, such as new toll roads and alternative roads as well as sea ports both for trade and fishing activities.

With better infrastructure, more investors, both domestic and foreign, are expected to come to take advantage of the business opportunities the regency has to offer, especially in the northern coastal area.

"I would appreciate it and give my full support if investors were willing to develop tourism resorts along the northern coastal area," Regent Djunara said.

According to Djunara, the coastal area in the north of Tangerang is quite suitable for tourism and modern housing complexes. He said that the regency had long planned to transform several coastal districts such as Kosambi, Teluk Naga, Paku Haji and Mauk into satellites cities. But to put the idea into practice, the administration needed to collaborate with private investors.

"We will soon begin the construction of a trade seaport in Tanjung Pasir in Teluk Naga district along with the construction of a 50-kilometer tollway that will give easy access to the planned port from the Soekanrno-Hatta International Airport tollway, the Jakarta-Merak tollway and Serpong township," he said.

In order to attract investors to develop the coastal area into tourism resorts and warehousing complexes, as well as to stimulate the local people's business activities, the regency will also widen and upgrade the existing 60-kilometer road linking Dadap beach in Kosambi district with Serang regency. The average width of the road will be about 40 meters.

He said the planned satellite township that would occupy several areas in Kosambi, Teluk Naga, Paku Haji and Mauk districts would be developed in stages.

According to Djunara, investors can establish any type of business as long as it is not against the existing master plan, which has designated the area for various purposes such as tourism, farming, warehousing, trade and services.

Meanwhile, the secretary to the regency administration, Ismet Iskandar, said that Tangerang regency could be the safest place for investors. Hostile reactions against foreigners had never taken place in the regency. "No hostile actions by the local people against foreigners have ever taken place here," he explained.

He said that the regency administration and the local legislative council would further work hand in hand in turning the regency into not only a safe place to live but also a safe place for investment.

"Tangerang is not Jakarta, or any of the other large cities in the country, Tangerang is safe and peaceful. We guarantee the security of foreign assets, and the expatriates who work in Tangerang," Ismet said.

Since regional autonomy went into effect in January 2001, the administration has revised many regulations in order to facilitate foreign investors in investing in the regency. Many of the new regulations have had a positive impact on industrial activities.