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)