Road construction in Papua costs Rp15 billion per kilometer
Rabu, 17 Februari 2016 10:26 WIB | 477 Views
Jayapura, Papua (ANTARA News) - Road construction in interior areas in Papua cost up to Rp15 billion per kilometer, an provincial official said.
The cost is especially expensive as there is no access road to the interior areas, the Papua National Road Office Oesman Marbun said.
"All provisions and equipment have to be carried by air to the project locations. Heavy equipment have to be dismantled before being loaded into helicopter," Oesman said here on Wednesday.
He said the government has been committed to bringing modernity to the interior areas by building road despite the difficult terrain.
Economic development has been lagging far behind in Papua partly because of the high cost of building infrastructure especially road to link the many small village scattered in the mountainous region.
President Joko Widodo has pledged acceleration of development of Papua during his repeated visits to the countrys easternmost region.
So far highways available in Papua are only those linking Nabire-Wagete-Enarotali, Waropko -Tanah Merah-Merauke and Wamena-Tolikara-Puncak-Puncak Jaya, Oesman Marbun said.
Security problem also hampers development in Papua with separatists still hiding in the jungles waiting for opportunity to create trouble.(*)
Road construction in Papua costs Rp15 billion per kilometer - ANTARA News
Crumb rubber industry open to foreign investment
Rabu, 17 Februari 2016 09:00 WIB | 501 Views
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Crumb rubber industry is open to 100 percent foreign investment after the revision of the Investment Negative List (DNI) announced last Thursday, Industry Minister Saleh Husin said.
"We have opened the crumb rubber industry to all those who want to invest in this sector, be these domestic or foreign companies. We want this industry to absorb as much investment as possible," the minister said here on Tuesday.
The problem is that the crumb rubber factories in Indonesia could not absorb the abundant rubber supplies at home.
He said the supply of raw rubber in the domestic market has reached some three million tons per annum while domestic crumb rubber businesses has been only able to absorb some 700 thousand tons per annum.
The low utilization of raw rubber caused rubber prices to drop below the price of rice. As a result, farmers were reluctant to rejuvenate their rubber plantations, this making raw rubber supplies hard to come by.
"A number of companies face difficulties in obtaining raw rubber," noted Saleh.
For this purpose, Minister Saleh said, the government has now opened crumb rubber sector to foreign and domestic investment, with the aim to jack up prices.
As a result, he said, farmers will again be optimistic and will replant rubber trees and tap them to meet the national crumb rubber industrys need for rubber.
"We want welfare of rubber farmers. As of now, they had stopped tapping their rubber trees. The sector cannot be allowed to be run only by a handful of businesses," said Saleh.
The government has revised the DNI list, taking out 35 economic sectors from its purview and opening these to 100 percent foreign investment. These sectors included crumb rubber; cold storage; tourism businesses such as restaurants, cocktail lounges, cafes, recreation centers, arts and entertainment; sports centers; and film industry.
The Indonesian Rubber Producers Association (Gapkindo) has said that rubber industry in the upstream sector, such as crumb rubber business, should remain confined only to national or domestic industry as the country now has 140 factories.
Currently, the existing rubber factories in the upstream areas could not operate to their full capacity and could not employ workers optimally. "With this revision in the DNI, opening it to new investment (in the upstream sector to foreign investors) will kill the existing industry," Moenardji Soedargo said in Jakarta on Monday.
Chairman of the Indonesian Rubber Business Council, Aziz Pane said the removal of the crumb rubber sector from the DNI will allow foreign investors to freely make new investment in the upstream rubber industry by establishing new factories or acquiring existing ones.
Pane said this can lead to a situation where the price of farmers rubber produce will be determined by big oligopolistic companies.
The regional oligopolistic market will damage the cause of good cooperation order and result in farmers suffering losses. There are fears that it may lead to farmers shifting from rubber to more advantageous plants.
"Many farmers have cut down their rubber trees because the rubber price level no longer promises benefit. The situation can prove to be dangerous since Indonesia is known as a rubber producer country," Pane said.(*)
Crumb rubber industry open to foreign investment - ANTARA News
Government restores industry`s role as engine of economic growth
Selasa, 16 Februari 2016 17:36 WIB | 766 Views
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The government is focused on restoring the industrys role as the engine of Indonesias economic growth, Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Darmin Nasution stated.
"The government should boost the industrial sector as it earns foreign exchange through exports," Nasution noted here on Tuesday.
The minister remarked that the industrial sector could absorb the labor force.
Nasution explained that there were three important characteristics of the industry. Firstly, the industry can absorb the workers in the labor-intensive, capital-intensive, knowledge-based, and high technology industries.
Secondly, the industry has high productivity, and thirdly, it can produce and meet the needs of other sectors.
The minister affirmed that the governments policy package had mobilized and restored the national industry.
"In fact, we design developments in the industrial area with investor-friendly facilities, including logistics areas and special economic zones," he pointed out.
Since the 1970s, the industrial sector had established the foundation for industrial and economic development of the society. At that time, the government had focused on import substitution.
"At that time, we built the industrial sector as the backbone of our economic development," the minister emphasized.
Until the 1980s, import substitution began to slow down. As a result, the government made a massive change in the policy.
In 1998-1999, a major crisis in Asia shook the industrial sector.
"Until now, we must acknowledge that the industrial sector has never fully recovered," Nasution emphasized.
Earlier, the government had released the tenth economic policy package aimed at boosting investment and protecting small and medium enterprises as well as cooperatives.
The government has increased 19 reserved business sectors for small and medium enterprises and cooperatives in the revision of Presidential Decree (Perpres) No. 39 in 2014 on List of Business Fields Closed and Business Fields Open with Conditions to Investment in the investment sector (Investment Negative List/DNI).
"The nineteen sectors comprise the activities of various business services and construction that use simple or medium technology and are valued at Rp10 billion," Nasution stated.
"In the previous DNI, foreign investors were required to have some 55 percent ownership in business areas such as pre-design and consulting services, architectural design services, and administrative services, and so on," the minister pointed out.
The government expanded the value of 39 reserved businesses in the SME sector from Rp1 billion to Rp50 billion.
The activities encompassed the type of construction service business, such as construction work for commercial buildings, health facilities, and others.
In addition, the government has simplified the business field as part of its efforts to expand the business activities of SMEs, the minister remarked.
Nineteen business services/construction were merged to form one type of business, the minister cited.
"Therefore, the reserved business sector for small and medium enterprises and cooperatives has been narrowed down to include 92 business fields," the minister stated.(*)
Government restores industry`s role as engine of economic growth - ANTARA News