Towards the enforcement of Free Trade Zone in Batam

Towards the enforcement of Free Trade Zone in Batam

Batam, a comfortable place for investment and settlement

Batam is known not only as an industrial estate but also as an attractive tourist resort. The region can also attract investors with its qualified human resources. For these reasons and more it is the correct place for the enforcement of the pending Free Trade Zone Law.

Batam boasts modern and international-standard facilities, such as hotels and apartments. There is also an international school and a shopping center -- both more than adequate for the approximately 2,000 expatriates now living in Batam.

Religious touch is a priority

When talking about reliable human resources, intelligence is not the only area of concern. There is also strong religious faith. As such, the Batam Authority has taken a variety of steps to create an atmosphere conducive to religious upbuilding.

The chairman of the Batam Authority, Ismeth Abdullah, said that in anticipation of the need for professionals in the coming year, Batam was ready with a good supply of reliable and conscientious workers to provide the best possible service to investors.

"In the past five years, Batam has been able to supply professional manpower because during this period universities and other educational institutions have sprung up on this island city. For the industrial sector, we have opened a polytechnic that is jointly managed by the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) and Riau University. The graduates of this polytechnic are recruited by the industrial sector," Abdullah said.

To ensure there are enough professionals to run Batam in the future, the Batam Authority has trained experts who earned their qualifications from leading universities in Indonesia, such as the University of Indonesia, ITB, Gadjah Mada University and several universities in Sumatra.

In addition to ensuring there will be a sufficient supply of intellectuals to develop Batam, the Batam Authority has also striven to create a dynamic religious atmosphere. Evidence of this effort is the construction of the Batam Center Grand Mosque.

This grand mosque, built at a cost of Rp 15 billion, boasts gorgeous architecture and promotes a positive image of Islam in Batam, where the majority of the population are Muslims. Construction on the mosque, designed by Achmad Noe'man of PT Birano, began in 1999 and was completed a year later. It can accommodate about 20,000 worshipers.

The chairman of the Islam Propagation Coordination Board (BKDI), who is also the head of the personnel bureau of the Batam Authority, Ahmad Dahlan, said it was compulsory for the Batam Authority to provide about 2,000 of its employees with religious upbuilding to ensure the Authority's management was sound and clean.

One of the activities the Muslim employees regularly carry out is the organization of routine lectures and spiritual guidance under the auspices of the BKDI, which also manages the Batam Center Grand Mosque.

"Religious enlightenment for our employees is necessary to create a sound and clean working environment. The construction of this grand mosque also manifests the efforts of the Batam Authority to make Batam a religious city," Ahmad Dahlan said.

A comfortable place for expatriates

There are no fewer than 43 star-rated and non-star-rated hotels on Batam, an indication that there is a good flow of foreign and domestic tourists to the island. At present there are some 2,000 expatriate residents in Batam. This number is expected to increase sharply if the country's legal instruments can provide better legal certainty for the business sector.

Included among the international-standard hotels in Batam are the Melia Panorama Hotel, Holiday Inn and the Novotel Hotel. These hotels will shortly implement business expansion and development plans.

The general manager of Novotel Batam, Christiaan Rumambi, said there were good prospects for the hotel business in Batam. With a monthly occupancy rate at about 60 percent, the Novotel is clearly a favorite among expatriates.

The four-star Novotel also has plans to expand its business and improve its services. "As Novotel is quite popular among expatriates, we expect to see the arrival of more expatriates guests with the enforcement of the law on free trade and ports. When this happens, Batam will become more attractive to foreigners," Rumambi noted.

In addition to the great variety of hotels, Batam can also boast modern, well-furnished apartments such as the Residence Melia, which is exclusively for foreigners. At present this luxury apartment block, which is managed by the Sol Melia Group, has only one vacant unit out of 24 units.

Other similar apartment facilities -- seven in number -- can be found in Nagoya, Marina, Batam Center and Nongsa. They offer great comfort and complete facilities, including sports facilities, and guaranteed security around the clock.

As for the Bintan Resort, a 20,000-hectare tourist resort on Bintan island, which lies to the north of Batam island, its management is hoping to see legal certainty in the investment sector in Batam, which will increase hotel occupancy in the area.

The operational director of the Bintan Lagoon, Ardi Wilson, expressed hope that the stipulation of Batam as a free trade zone would significantly contribute to the promotion of Bintan Resort as a tourist destination.

"Today North Bintan is often considered as part of Singapore. We sincerely hope that this conducive situation may boost the development of the Bintan Resort," Wilson said.

As it takes only 20 minutes to reach Bintan by ferry, it is one of several interesting destinations easily accessible from Batam.

Schools

The school of choice for children of expatriates living in Batam is the Global Indo-Asia School, which is run by The Clarisa Foundation. This school enjoys the full support of the Batam Authority and other relevant government agencies. It is located on a strategic plot of land measuring some five hectares in Batam Center and has about 400 students, from two years of age up to junior high school age.

The school has about 150 students from America, Australia, Korea and Japan. It teaches the national curriculum plus some extracurricular subjects conforming to an international school program.

Global has about 30 expatriate teachers hailing from the United States, Australia and Singapore. The presence of these expatriate teachers serves as a guarantee of the quality of the school to expatriates living on the island.

Anas, chairman of the Clarisa Foundation, said the foundation enjoyed the full support of various government agencies in managing this international-standard school. The Batam Authority, in particular, provides motivation and guidance to expatriates so they can entrust the education of their children to the school.

"This is the only school in Riau that is attended by expatriate children. We are now waiting for accreditation from an educational institution in Texas, the United States. We are going to keep developing this school and in the coming year we will add a senior high school," Anas said.