Tunky to help industrial estate developers

Tunky to help industrial estate developers

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Industry and Trade Tunky Ariwibowo
promised yesterday to help industrial estate developers acquire
land faster.

"I will do my best to help them," Tunky was quoted by Antara
as saying regarding investors' complaints on the arduous and
costly process of acquiring land for industrial estates.

Tunky is also the chairman of the Coordinating Committee for
Industrial Estate Development.

Minister of Agrarian Affairs Soni Harsono refused to comment
on this yesterday.

Minister Harsono has instead issued an instruction which
prohibits any more land acquisition by public housing developers
in Greater Jakarta.

West Java's Deputy Governor H.A. Sampoerna said earlier that
industrial estate development in the province had been slow
because the National Land Agency refused to help expedite the
acquisition of land.

The problem, according to Sampoerna, has been exacerbated by
the ruling which prohibits local administrations from intervening
in land acquisitions by private companies.

"The consequence is that land speculators and middlemen often
stand as barriers between land owners and industrial estate
investors," Sampoerna noted.

House members have often expressed concern over the sluggish
development of industrial estates, which are badly needed to
expedite the establishment of new industrial plants, especially
in heavily populated provinces like Java.

Goro Tamatsukuri, the president of the MM 2100 Industrial
Estate, recounted recently that land-acquisition problems had
delayed the implementation of his estate project by seven years.

House member Tadjoeddin Noer expressed doubts that Indonesia
would be able to achieve its investment target if the problems
encountered by industrial estate developers were not solved once
and for all. (vin)