Economic talks: Batam Free Trade Zone Authority
(BP Batam) chairman Hatanto Reksodipoetro talks about economic progress
in Batam, Riau Islands, during a recent visit to The Jakarta Post’s
office.(JP/Wendra Ajistyatama)(BP Batam) chairman Hatanto Reksodipoetro
talks about economic progress in Batam, Riau Islands, during a recent
visit to The Jakarta Post’s office.(JP/Wendra Ajistyatama)
Economic talks: Batam
Free Trade Zone Authority (BP Batam) chairman Hatanto Reksodipoetro
talks about economic progress in Batam, Riau Islands, during a recent
visit to The Jakarta Post’s office.(JP/Wendra Ajistyatama)
New
management appointed by the government to make over the free trade zone
of Batam, Riau Islands, wants the area to emerge as a major industrial
and logistic hub for the Asia Pacific region.
The executives of the Batam Indonesia Free Zone Authority (BP Batam), a newly established state agency tasked with managing and developing the industrial areas in the island, began their service in April with the major challenge of shouldering competition with neighboring countries such as Singapore and Malaysia.
As a special free trade zone located 45 minutes from Singapore, the island has so far found it difficult to compete with its neighbor in attracting investors despite being fully connected with fiber optics and basic infrastructures such as a port, an airport and industrial parks.
However, BP Batam’s new management envisions a set of high-scale and long-term development programs for the island as part of efforts to support Joko “Jokowi” Widodo administration’s target of 7 percent economic growth by 2019.
In the first phase, the authority aims to cut red tape by offering a three-hour investment licensing service slated to be launched on Independence Day on Aug. 17.
“In the short term, we want to fix matters related to permits by an online-based system,” BP Batam head Hatanto Reksodipoetro said during a visit to The Jakarta Post recently.
The three-hour investment licensing service will be offered to investors willing to invest minimum capital of Rp 50 billion (US$3.81 million) or employ at least 300 workers.
Batam refers to both an island and municipality in the Riau Islands. The Batam metropolitan area consists of three main islands — Batam, Rempang and Galang — connected by the 642-meter Barelang Bridge.
Home to more than a million people, Batam is also the third-largest city in Sumatra after Medan in North Sumatra and Palembang in South Sumatra.
BP Batam, which replaces the now-defunct Batam Free Trade Zone Authority (BPK FTZ), an agency that had developed Batam since 1971, is also working to verify hundreds of idle investment contracts in the region; it has so far found 298 unused sites.
“We found one investor who had not build anything for 28 years,” he said.
RC Eko S. Budianto, BP Batam’s head of business facility development, said the agency would invite strategic partners to develop areas in Batam that were being used optimally, such as Nagoya.
“We will invite investors to develop the areas and build high-rise rental buildings, which will be aimed at multinational companies in Singapore where rental costs continue to rise. They can choose Johor and Batam as alternatives,” he said.
For the long term, Hatanto said the agency planned to build a railway called the Batam Light Rail Transit (LRT) that would connect Hang Nadim International Airport and Batu Ampar Port in the first phase, followed by routes connecting the eastern and western parts of the island.
“We are also building toll roads and a bridge called Bintan Bridge, which will connect Batam and Bintan Island. For Hang Nadim airport, we plan to build it as an Aerotropolis, or an integrated commercial area to trigger economic activity,” he said.
The executives of the Batam Indonesia Free Zone Authority (BP Batam), a newly established state agency tasked with managing and developing the industrial areas in the island, began their service in April with the major challenge of shouldering competition with neighboring countries such as Singapore and Malaysia.
As a special free trade zone located 45 minutes from Singapore, the island has so far found it difficult to compete with its neighbor in attracting investors despite being fully connected with fiber optics and basic infrastructures such as a port, an airport and industrial parks.
However, BP Batam’s new management envisions a set of high-scale and long-term development programs for the island as part of efforts to support Joko “Jokowi” Widodo administration’s target of 7 percent economic growth by 2019.
In the first phase, the authority aims to cut red tape by offering a three-hour investment licensing service slated to be launched on Independence Day on Aug. 17.
“In the short term, we want to fix matters related to permits by an online-based system,” BP Batam head Hatanto Reksodipoetro said during a visit to The Jakarta Post recently.
The three-hour investment licensing service will be offered to investors willing to invest minimum capital of Rp 50 billion (US$3.81 million) or employ at least 300 workers.
Batam refers to both an island and municipality in the Riau Islands. The Batam metropolitan area consists of three main islands — Batam, Rempang and Galang — connected by the 642-meter Barelang Bridge.
Home to more than a million people, Batam is also the third-largest city in Sumatra after Medan in North Sumatra and Palembang in South Sumatra.
BP Batam, which replaces the now-defunct Batam Free Trade Zone Authority (BPK FTZ), an agency that had developed Batam since 1971, is also working to verify hundreds of idle investment contracts in the region; it has so far found 298 unused sites.
“We found one investor who had not build anything for 28 years,” he said.
RC Eko S. Budianto, BP Batam’s head of business facility development, said the agency would invite strategic partners to develop areas in Batam that were being used optimally, such as Nagoya.
“We will invite investors to develop the areas and build high-rise rental buildings, which will be aimed at multinational companies in Singapore where rental costs continue to rise. They can choose Johor and Batam as alternatives,” he said.
For the long term, Hatanto said the agency planned to build a railway called the Batam Light Rail Transit (LRT) that would connect Hang Nadim International Airport and Batu Ampar Port in the first phase, followed by routes connecting the eastern and western parts of the island.
“We are also building toll roads and a bridge called Bintan Bridge, which will connect Batam and Bintan Island. For Hang Nadim airport, we plan to build it as an Aerotropolis, or an integrated commercial area to trigger economic activity,” he said.
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