Indonesia Economy Forum

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Progres Pembangunan Terminal 3 UltimatePresdir PT. Angkasa Pura II Budi Karya Sumadi (kedua kanan) mendengarkan penjelasan dari pekerja mengenai bagasi otomatis di ruang keberangkatan proyek pembangunan Terminal 3 Ultimate Bandara Soekarno Hatta, Tangerang, Banten, Rabu (27/1). Terminal seluas 422.804,40 m2 yang pembangunannya sudah mencapai 93 persen itu nantinya akan mampu menampung 25 juta penumpang per tahun dan direncanakan beroperasi pada bulan Mei 2016. ANTARA FOTO/Muhammad Iqbal/foc/16.

Progres Pembangunan Terminal 3 UltimatePekerja melintas di ruang keberangkatan proyek pembangunan Terminal 3 Ultimate Bandara Soekarno Hatta, Tangerang, Banten, Rabu (27/1). Terminal seluas 422.804,40 m2 yang pembangunannya sudah mencapai 93 persen nantinya akan mampu menampung 25 juta penumpang per tahun dan direncanakan beroperasi pada bulan Mei 2016. ANTARA FOTO/Muhammad Iqbal/foc/16.

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Pembangunan Terminal Baru Bandara DjalaludinFoto bangunan terminal baru Bandara Djalaludin yang masih dalam tahap pembangunan di Kecamatan Isimu, Gorontalo, Selasa (26/1). Terminal baru bandara Djalaludin Gorontalo dapat menampung 800 penumpang per hari serta memiliki 6 apron (tempat parkir pesawat) dan diprediksi pembangunannya segera rampung pada pertengahan Februari 2016.ANTARA FOTO/Adiwinata Solihin/aww/16.

 

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Pelebaran Jalur Ganda Kereta ApiPekerja PT KAI merobohkan bangunan rumah di dekat lahan pelintasan kereta api dengan alat berat di Jalan Salak Medan, Sumatera Utara, Rabu (27/1). PT KAI melakukan pelebaran untuk pembangunan jalur ganda (double track) kereta api Bandara Kualanamu yang ditargetkan siap pada Juli 2016 mendatang sepanjang 28,8 km. ANTARA FOTO/Septianda Perdana/foc/16.

South Korea businessman interested to build electric car factory in Indonesia


Korsel minat produksi mobil listrik di Indonesia
Kamis, 28 Januari 2016 21:18 WIB | 3.923 Views
Pewarta: Sella Panduarsa Gareta


Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Investor asal Korea Selatan yang datang bersama Rokhmin Dahuri MS, Duta Besar Kehormatan Jeju Island, Korsel, menyampaikan minatnya untuk memproduksi mobil listrik di Indonesia.

“Industri mobil listrik dan komponennya di Korea terus marak. Kami ingin tahu lebih jauh peluang di sini termasuk bekerja sama dengan pengusaha Indonesia,” kata salah satu delegasi Daegu University of Foreign Studies Kim Soo-Il di Jakarta, Kamis.

Hal tersebut disampaikan usai bertemu dengan Menteri Perindustrian Saleh Husin di Kantor Menperin, Jakarta.

Hal ini juga disambut positif oleh Menperin yang selanjutnya meminta Korsel untuk turut memperdalam struktur industri yaitu dengan membangun pabrik komponen.

Soal lokasi pabrik, Menperin menyarankan di kawasan industri yang telah ada industri otomotif seperti di Cikarang Bekasi dan Karawang atau daerah lainnya.

Dirjen Industri Logam, Mesin, Alat Transportasi dan Elektronika (ILMATE) I Gusti Putu Suryawirawan mengungkapkan, selain di sekitar Jakarta, kawasan industri di Surabaya Jawa Timur dapat menjadi pilihan bagi industri komponen mobil listrik.

"Secara tren global, produksi mobil jenis ini memang menarik untuk prospek ke depan. Salah satu karakter industri ini ialah fokus pada produksi komponen baterai dan motor listrik,” katanya.

Adapun beberapa pengusaha Korsel itu ialah Chairman Busan Indonesia Center dan President of Daegu University of Foreign Studies Kim Soo-Il, Presiden Korwell Corporation dan Dongil Shipyard dan Sung Tae Kim (industri galangan kapal).

Selain itu, Direktur Helukabel, Pia Jeong (industri kabel listrik), dan Advisor Jinwoo Co Ltd dan Wee Jin Dong (produsen suku cadang otomotif).

Editor: Ruslan Burhani

COPYRIGHT © ANTARA 2016

http://www.antaranews.com/berita/54...ler_home&utm_medium=populer&utm_campaign=news

BKPM urges Japan to invest in capital goods
Jumat, 29 Januari 2016 21:00 WIB | 214 Views

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesian Capital Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) has urged Japan to invest in sectors such as industrial raw materials and capital goods since these sectors have a large investment potential, an official stated.

Major investment in the capital goods sector will have a positive impact as it will not only reduce imports but also increase domestic companies industrial capacity, Chief of BKPM Franky Sibarani said in a statement received here on Friday.

"The BKPMs effort to market investment opportunities among the Japanese will boost investment in industrial raw materials and capital goods (in Indonesia), in addition to Japans key sector of automotive and spare parts industry," he explained.

Sibarani further said Japans investment potential in regards to both the sectors (industrial raw materials and capital goods) is still quite large.

According to him, the realization of Japanese investment in the sectors (industrial raw materials and capital goods) also showed a significant increase (24.8 percent), amounting to Rp57.9 trillion, when compared to the previous year.(*)
http://www.antaranews.com/en/news/102839/bkpm-urges-japan-to-invest-in-capital-goods

 

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Presiden Joko Widodo didampingi Gubernur DKI Jakarta Basuki Tjahaja Purnama meninjau fasilitas Jakarta Smart City

T3 Ultimate on progress

 

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Bank Indonesia predicts credit growth in 2015 to reach 11%
Jumat, 29 Januari 2016 19:55 WIB | 309 Views

Perry Warjiyo. (ANTARA/Andika Wahyu)

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Indonesia's Central BankBank Indonesia has predicted that credit growth in the banking industry will reach between 10 to 11 percent in 2015.

"As per the latest figure, it was at 9.8 percent in November, while there was a slight increase in December," deputy governor of the central bank, Perry Warjiyo, said at his office here on Friday.

He said the slow bank credit growth was inseparable from the slow domestic economic growth.

"This is what we see from the dynamics of banking credit. If the economy slows down, so will credit growth," he said.

Perry said because of the economic slowdown, the relaxation of BI policies such as loan-to-value and minimum reserves requirements, have been unable to boost credit growth because demand has not yet increased.

"The fiscal stimulus only happened in the third and fourth quarter. But the stimulus in the first quarter (of next year) will be faster and demand will rise," he said.

He said this would give a signal that demand will rise and bank capacity would improve in terms of liquidity of interest rate.

"That is why we predict that lending growth this year will reach between 12-14 percent," he said. ***3***

(Reporting by Citro Atmoko/Uu.H-YH/INE/KR-BSR/A014)

http://www.antaranews.com/en/news/102838/bank-indonesia-predicts-credit-growth-in-2015-to-reach-11

 

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Indonesia's Rupiah Is Outperforming Every Major Currency


The Indonesian rupiah’s world-beating rally in the past four months shows how a steady hand at the tiller can guide a developing nation through global turbulence.

The currency strengthened 5.6 percent from Sept. 30 through Thursday, a percentage point more than the Malaysian ringgit, the next-best performer among 31 major counterparts. That’s a far cry from the previous three years when the rupiah plunged 35 percent amid falling commodity prices, a slowing Chinese economy and anticipation of tighter U.S. monetary policy.

Bank Indonesia Governor Agus Martowardojo resisted political pressure to reduce interest rates last year and waited for inflation to drop before cutting in January, winning the confidence of overseas investors who pumped almost $4 billion into rupiah sovereign debt in four months. The currency had been more undervalued than most of its peers and should be fairly stable in 2016, according to Ebury Partners Ltd, the most-accurate rupiah forecaster in Bloomberg rankings.


“Its resilience has indeed been a pleasant surprise," said Edwin Gutierrez, a portfolio manager who helps oversee about $11 billion as head of emerging-market sovereign debt at Aberdeen Asset Management Plc in London. “Inflows into the rupiah bond market have certainly helped as Bank Indonesia has resumed its rate-cutting cycle.”

Aberdeen, which holds Indonesian government bonds, has recently unwound some of its hedges on the rupiah as it now sees the currency remaining stable rather than weakening, Gutierrez said, declining to give a forecast. Although, he added that few emerging currencies will be spared if there’s another big drop in commodity prices.

Ebury, the most accurate rupiah forecaster in the third and fourth quarters, predicts the currency will end the year at 13,800 a dollar, 0.3 percent stronger than the spot rate of 13,838 a dollar as of 10:43 a.m. in Jakarta on Friday. That’s more bullish than the 14,592 median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of 30 analysts. Most Asian exchange rates will track the yuan, said Enrique Diaz-Alvarez, chief risk officer at Ebury in New York.

Macro Adjustment
Southeast Asia’s largest economy is dependent on portfolio inflows to finance an external deficit, and prematurely cutting interest rates risks curbing those flows and weakening the rupiah. Governor Martowardojo held off lowering the policy rate again last year, despite repeated calls from Vice President Jusuf Kalla to do so, after a surprise reduction in February spurred an exit of funds.


The central bank waited until inflation eased to 3.35 percent in December, from levels exceeding 7 percent in August, to cut the rate to 7.25 percent. Falling oil prices will help contain prices and there’s still room for more easing either via the policy rate or lenders’ reserve ratios, Martowardojo said on Wednesday.

Indonesia’s tight monetary policy since the 2013 taper tantrum has helped it to bring its current-account deficit down from as high as 4.4 percent of gross domestic product in the second quarter of that year to an estimated full-year shortfall of 2 percent in 2015.

“Since the financial turbulence that initially disrupted a number of emerging markets in 2013, Indonesia’s policy makers have engineered a macroeconomic adjustment that has directly addressed investor concerns over external imbalances,” Moody’s Investors Service said in statement on Thursday.

Indonesia’s economic growth is forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists to accelerate to 5.2 percent this year, from an estimated six-year low of 4.7 percent in 2015, as President Joko Widodo speeds up state spending on infrastructure. A decision by Golkar, the second-biggest political party in parliament, to support Widodo and give him an effective majority should also help him enact legislative reform.

Sentiment Shift
Indonesia’s economy hasn’t turned the corner yet as an expansionary fiscal policy and weak tax collection will pressure the budget and could spur inflation, said Hakan Aksoy, a London-based debt fund manager at Pioneer Investment Management Ltd., which oversees 224 billion euros ($244 billion).

“The performance of the rupiah will not be strong in an environment with higher inflation and a dovish central bank," he said. Pioneer still expects limited outperformance of the rupiah against its peers and is “slightly overweight” Indonesian bonds, Aksoy said.

There’s been a shift in sentiment after the rupiah proved resilient to this month’s market volatility and its relatively muted response to the rate cut was also encouraging, Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. Singapore-based analysts Khoon Goh and Irene Cheung wrote in a research note released Tuesday. ANZ is forecasting another 75 basis points of rate reductions by the end of the third quarter.

“Further monetary policy easing from Bank Indonesia will not only be positive for growth but also encourage more bond inflows, which will support the rupiah,” the analysts wrote.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...g-rally-shows-exit-from-emerging-market-storm

 

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In Ford's Exit, Local Manufacturing Seen as Key to Success for Foreign Car Makers in Indonesia

Jakarta. A lack of a localized business strategy lies at the heart of American car maker Ford Motor's recent exit from Indonesia, an expert says, emphasizing the key factor of having a native arsenal in order to conquer the largest automotive market in the Southeast Asian region.

Ford Motor, who stands among the top brands from the United States, announced that it's closing operation in all areas of business in Indonesia and Japan this year, due to struggles in maintaining profitability.

The announcement comes roughly a year after General Motors, another leading American car maker, decided to stop manufacturing cars in Indonesia, a market where roughly 99 percent of cars sold are made by Japanese brands.

"We don't believe it's a good move for Ford because Indonesia is a strategic market and exiting the market does not have a good impression in the mind of customers," Viviek Vaidya, vice president of automotive and transportation practices at Frost & Sullivan in Asia Pacific, told the Jakarta Globe in Jakarta on Wednesday.

"[GM] just closed operations plants. What Ford is announcing is exiting the market. If they want to re-enter, it will be hard for them to gain customers."

Vaidya noted that one of Ford's pitfalls was that the company didn't invest enough in offering products tailored for the Indonesian market; neither did they map out a plan for a local production strategy, he said.

In comparison, although GM had decided to close its plant, the brand maintained presence in Indonesia in a joint venture with Chinese partners, SAIC Motor and Liuzhou Wuling Motors to build a manufacturing plant in Indonesia that's expected to operate next year with an annual output of 150,000 Wuling-badged multi-purpose vehicles (MPVs).

Ford Motors, which entered Indonesia in 2002, employs 35 staff members and sells through 44 franchised dealership across the country. It sold 4,986 units last year with 0.5 percent share of the total market, according to data from Indonesia Automotive Industry Association (Gaikindo).

Yet in over 14 years of operations, the company has not talked to the government about investing in a production facility here in Indonesia, including those for spare parts, which led to their struggle in winning a market share, Industry Minister Saleh Husin recently said.

"Ford was losing the competition in terms of business [in Indonesia], so they would unsurprisingly be focusing more on countries where they excel. In Indonesia, they didn't establish plants for components, like other automotive makers, so they lost," he told reporters in Jakarta recently.

Saleh noted that he'd heard rumors circulating that the American brand will focus on Thailand and would later ship in cars to Indonesia from there.

"But we haven't met with Ford officially yet," he added.

Sales of four-wheeler in Indonesia, the largest market in Southeast Asia, declined by 16 percent last year to 1.013 million units, Gaikindo data reported, amid weakened consumer spending and a depreciated local currency.

This year, Gaikindo targets to sell 1.05 million units, up 5 five percent from last year

http://jakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/...een-key-success-foreign-car-makers-indonesia/

More Companies Urging Indonesian Diaspora to Return Home: Survey

Jakarta. Indonesia’s emerging industries are expected to face competition in attracting and retaining top talent as organizations try to drive productivity and efficiency in their operation, according to the latest annual Global Salary Survey from specialist professional recruitment firm Robert Walters.

Skilled Indonesians with specialist skill sets, international experience and multilingual abilities –namely English and Indonesian – will be highly sought after in the coming years, especially in sectors involving technology.

"Emerging market business [sectors] like technology and e-commerce are growing very very fast, so they are looking to hire a talented Indonesian across the board. There is a constant demand for those skilled Indonesians that can offer real value to the company,” said Rob Bryson, director of Robert Walters Indonesia.

As businesses are in competition to assemble the best workforce, which caused the demand for professionals with specific specialist skills in the sector to outstrip the supply in Indonesia, Bryson added.

"This will fuel the interest of Indonesians currently working or studying abroad," he continued.

However, salary packages continued to be the main incentive keeping Indonesians living overseas from returning home.

"Hiring managers must be prepared to constantly assess their total salary packages to ensure they are offering attractive compensation,” he said.

This would be a challenging task as Indonesian professionals currently working or studying abroad usually command between 20 and 50 percent above their compatriots back home.

But according to a Robert Walters study, only 53 percent of companies are willing to pay more for returning Indonesians, offering an average salary that is just 15 percent higher than colleagues with no experience working abroad.

http://jakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/business/companies-urging-indonesian-diaspora-return-home-survey/

 

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Indonesia a potential hub
for outsourcing: GSLI
Anton Hermansyah, thejakartapost.com, Jakarta | Business | Sat, January 30 2016, 1:24 PM

In a global survey conducted by consulting firm A.T. Kearney, Indonesia ranked number five in the attractiveness of its offshore business potential behind India, China, Malaysia and Brazil.

The Global Service Location Index (GSLI) measures financial attractiveness, people skills, availability and business environment. The index brought together potential fundamentals for delivering information technology, business outsourcing processes and voice services not in actual market conditions.

"Despite very strong fundamentals, a large pool of talent and an attractive financial profile, Indonesia is not a well-known destination for offshore services," A.T. Kearney’s partner Arjun Sethi said Friday.

In fact, among South East Asian countries, the Philippines leads in the global outsourcing business. After first providing call center services, Philippines moved on to IT services. Cities like Manila, Cebu and Davao have built up reputations as major outsourcing destinations along with Bangalore, Mumbai and Delhi in India.

In the GSLI 2016, which primarily measures potential power, the Philippines ranked number seven, behind Indonesia and Thailand. But India remained the undisputed champion. The availability of skilled labor and infrastructure for new cities were the keys to India winning the competition.

The GSLI has been existed since 2009. The index surveys 55 countries and uses 38 measurements grouped into three overarching categories. The first is financial attractiveness, constituting 40 percent of the overall score. The second is skills and availability, which constitutes 30 percent of the score. The third category is business environment, amounting to 30 percent of the score. (bbn)

- See more at: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/...ub-outsourcing-gsli.html#sthash.dhz5FrA4.dpuf

 

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Indonesian University view

Peringkat Kampus Hijau DuniaMahasiswa melintas di depan Gedung Rektorat Universitas Indonesia, Depok, Jawa Barat, Selasa (26/1). UI Green Metric merilis Peringkat Kampus Hijau Terbaik di Dunia tahun 2015 yang menempatkan Universitas Indonesia pada peringkat ke 33, Institut Pertanian Bogor di peringkat 36, dan Universitas Diponegoro peringkat 45, sementara peringkat pertama diraih University of Nottingham. (ANTARA FOTO/Indrianto Eko Suwarso)

 

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Large sized Monitor lizard found straying in Business area in Banda Aceh City, Aceh Province. The nearby residents chose to catch the lizard and put it back into its habitat near the riverside.

Warga menangkap seekor biawak air (Varanus salvator) liar yang memasuki toko dan rumah penduduk di Peunayong, Banda Aceh, Aceh, Jumat (29/1). Satwa tersebut ditangkap dan dilepaskan kembali ke habitatnya di pinggiran sungai. ANTARA FOTO/Irwansyah Putra/aww/16.

S Korea to be asked to invest in ship components: Minister
Jumat, 29 Januari 2016 08:28 WIB | 709 Views

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Minister of Industry Saleh Husin welcomed the willingness of South Korea to develop the shipyard industry in Indonesia, and asked for another investment in ship components.

"We welcomed their expansion investment. In particular, I have asked the Korean businessmen to invest more in the ship components industry in order to support the President Joko Widodos program of sea toll," Husin said in a written statement received by ANTARA Thursday.

Following a high demand of ships and shipyards, he believed it would bring an increase demand of ship component industry.

Husin just received a visit by the Honorary Ambassador of Jeju Island, South Korea, Rokhmin Dahuri MS, and some Korean businessmen.

Some of the businessmen who also attended the meeting were the Chairman of Busan Indonesia Center and the President of Daegu University of Foreign Students Kim Soo-Il, the President of Korwell Corporation, and Dongil Shipyard, Sung Tae Kim.

In addition to them, the Director of Helukabel, Pia Jeong, and the Advisor of Jinwoo Co Ltd, We Jin Dong also attended.

Indonesian shipyard industry was considered to have the ability to produce and cooperate with foreign industry. South Korea was also asked to be the partner of the domestic shipyard industry.

The Ministry of Industry tried to boost the ship industries by establishing incentives of Government Borne Import Duty (BMDTP) to import ship components and uncollected income tax value (PPN) for shipping companies who bought ships from national shipyard companies.

"We are ready to facilitate the Korean investors to meet and build further cooperation with the national shipyard companies whether it is state-owned companies or private ones," Husin said.(*)

http://www.antaranews.com/en/news/102817/s-korea-to-be-asked-to-invest-in-ship-components-minister

 

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Indonesia should reinforce fish seeding development: Expert
Minggu, 31 Januari 2016 07:21 WIB | 340 Views

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesia should strengthen its fish seed development as it has become very weak due to its impatience in fish seed development, a marine expert said.

"We are weak in fish seeds because we are often impatient in the development of fisheries," Prof Widi Agoes Pratikto, the executive director of the Coral Reefs, Fisheries and Food Security (CTI-CFF), told a discussion on marine and fisheries here Saturday.

There are two countries which are great in the development of fish seeds, namely Iran and Turkey, he said.

They are great in the development of fish seeds because they do not want to be dictated to by advanced countries in this regard.

For this purpose, officials in charge of this sector should become more active in developing communications and building networks with various parties, he said.

The key lies in human resources. If the population is big but it only becomes a burden then it is useless, he said.

Meanwhile, Abdul Halim, the secretary general of the Peoples Coalition for Fishery Justice (Kiara) acknowledged that restocking of fish is something important but its implementation should be periodically checked.

"Restocking of fish is good as long as the species of fish released are local species and its stock is checked periodically," he said.

The periodic checking will depend on the species of fish released because some fish species grow in a year while others need more than a year.

The government should activate fish restocking in an effort to support the sustainability of fish, Director General for Cultured Fish Affairs of the Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries Slamet Soebjakto said.

"Based on the directives given by the Minister of Marine Affairs and Fisheries Susi Pudjiastuti, cultured fish activities should not cause damage to the environment and it should support sustainability. Restocking is an effort to materialize the policy," he said.

In 2016 the fish seeding activities would be focused on producing quality fish seeds for the need of restocking in fish natural habitat, Slamet said.

"The target of cultured fish production in 2016 is set at 19.5 million tons, which is expected to need some 101 billion fish seeds," he said.(*)

http://www.antaranews.com/en/news/102844/indonesia-should-reinforce-fish-seeding-development-expert

 

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Jokowi visit to Borobudur temple district

Presiden Joko Widodo berjalan di halaman Candi Borobudur saat melakukan kunjungan kerja ke Taman Wisata Candi Borobudur Magelang, Jateng, Jumat (29/1). Kunjungan presiden Jokowi dalam rangka Rencana Pengembangan Destinasi Wisata Borobudur dan Badan Pengelola Pariwisata Borobudur. ANTARA FOTO/Anis Efizudin/pd/16

Presiden Joko Widodo berbincang dengan gubernur Jawa Tengah Ganjar Pranowo (kiri) saat melakukan kunjungan kerja ke Taman Wisata Candi Borobudur Magelang, Jateng, Jumat (29/1). Kunjungan presiden Jokowi dalam rangka Rencana Pengembangan Destinasi Wisata Borobudur dan Badan Pengelola Pariwisata Borobudur. ANTARA FOTO/Anis Efizudin/pd/16

Presiden Joko Widodo berbincang dengan menteri Pariwisata Arief Yahya (kanan) saat melakukan kunjungan kerja ke Taman Wisata Candi Borobudur Magelang, Jateng, Jumat (29/1). Kunjungan presiden Jokowi dalam rangka Rencana Pengembangan Destinasi Wisata Borobudur dan Badan Pengelola Pariwisata Borobudur. ANTARA FOTO/Anis Efizudin/pd/16

PresidenJoko Widodo naik kereta kelinci menuju ruang rapat saat melakukan kunjungan kerja ke Taman Wisata Candi Borobudur Magelang, Jateng, Jumat (29/1). Kunjungan presiden Jokowi dalam rangka Rencana Pengembangan Destinasi Wisata Borobudur dan Badan Pengelola Pariwisata Borobudur. ANTARA FOTO/Anis Efizudin/pd/16

 

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Sea toll road project expected to ease price disparity
Minggu, 31 Januari 2016 15:24 WIB | 284 Views
Pewarta: Fardah

KM Caraka Jaya Niaga III - 32 in South Jamrud Terminal, Port of Tanjung Perak, Surabaya, East Java, in the Marine Highway program on November 4, 2015. (ANTARA/Didik Suhartono)

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesia has been developing a sea toll road project aimed at improving the countrys economy and connectivity particularly between eastern and western Indonesian regions.

Sea toll roads are crucial for Indonesia, which is one of the worlds largest maritime countries, with some 5.8 million square kilometers of sea territory, while its land territory covers only 1.9 million square kilometers.

Its coastline is some 92 thousand kilometers long, making it the second-longest after Canada. The largest archipelagic nation in the world has some 17,480 islands.

The administration of President Joko Widodo (Jokowi), which has an ambition to develop the country into a global maritime axis, has come up with the sea toll road concept that will improve ports and shipping in order to facilitate the transport of goods across the archipelago.

Several deep sea ports in Indonesia will be improved to support his sea toll road concept. They include Kuala Tanjung in North Sumatra, Tanjung Priok in Jakarta, Tanjung Perak in Surabaya, and East Java, in addition to Makassar in South Sulawesi, and in Papua.

This year, the government plans to develop 24 seaports to support the project, Deputy Minister of National Development Planning Endah Murniningtyas, who is in charge of maritime and natural resources, stated in Wakatobi, Southeast Sulawesi, on January 25.

Most of the seaports will be located in eastern Indonesian regions, including Southeast Sulawesi.

The high price disparity between eastern and western Indonesian regions so far is caused by expensive shipping freight costs as almost every ship returning from remote areas is empty or carrying no freight.

"If ships delivering goods to eastern Indonesian regions could return with commodities for western regions the freight costs could be cut," she said, adding that at the end gradually there would be no price disparity any more.

The full operation of the sea toll roads in March this year are aimed at easing the disparity of the prices of staples between the western and eastern Indonesian regions by up to 30 percent, Transportation Minister Ignasius Jonan said recently.

"The drop must be more than (20 percent) so that prices (in eastern regions) would be more reasonable and prices would not go up and down," he said.

State-owned shipping liner PT Pelni has earlier predicted there would be a potential drop in prices of staples by 20 to 25 percent.

The government plans to operate possibly 13 sea toll road routes, Director General of Sea Transportation of the Transportation Ministry Bobby R. Mamahit said.

"In the future the number of routes will be increased up to 13, according to the minister," he said.

With better connectivity price disparity between the western and eastern regions would be smaller, Mamahit also confirmed.

Until January 2016, six sea toll road routes have become operational, Transportation Director Bambang Prihartono of the National Development Planning Ministry remarked January 22.

The government is currently evaluating the six projects to ascertain their impacts on reducing inter-island freight costs.

The ministry is conducting the evaluation in cooperation with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to formulate success indicators of the six projects, one of the indicators being a decrease in price disparity, he added.

The results of the evaluation, which is expected to be completed in 2017, will be used to decide future sea toll road projects, Prihartono said.

Sea toll projects are strategic infrastructure for increasing maritime connectivity and need a total investment amounting to Rp699 trillion, he said.

In order to be combined with land transportation development, the government has set a target to reduce the nations logistics costs to 20 percent of the gross domestic product from the current 27 percent.

PT Pelni are currently serving six routine and scheduled routes to ensure reliable logistics supplies in some regions, specifically the remote areas.

In accordance with Presidential Regulation No. 106 of 2015, the government provides subsidies worth Rp257 billion under the Public Service Obligation (PSO) scheme for developing sea toll road projects.

The first sea toll road route runs between Tanjung Perak (East Java) to Tual (Maluku), Fak-Fak (West Papua), Kaimana (Papua), and Timika (Papua). The return route from Timika to Tanjung Perak passes through Kaimana, Fak-Fak, and Tual.

The second route runs between Tanjung Perak, Saumlaki (Maluku), Dobo (Maluku), and Merauke (Papua).

The third route also runs between Tanjung Perak, Reo (East Nusa Tenggara/NTT), Maumere (NTT), Lewoleba (NTT), Rote (NTT), Sabu (NTT), and Waingapu (NTT).

The fourth route runs between Tanjung Priok (Jakarta), Biak (Papua), Serui (Papua), Nabire (Papua), Wasior (West Papua), and Manokwari (West Papua).

The fifth route covers Tanjung Priok, Ternate (North Maluku), Tobelo (North Maluku), and Babang (North Maluku).

The sixth route is between Tanjung Priok, Kijang (Riau Islands), and Natuna (Riau Islands).

The Wakatobi district authorities have lauded the operation of the sea toll ship that makes a stopover twice a month in the district located in Southeast Sulawesi Province.

"The sea toll ship transits in Wakatobi while sailing from Tanjung Perak towards the eastern region of Indonesia and again during its return journey," Tawakal, head of the Wakatobi industry, trade and SME office, stated January 28.

The first stopover was made January 25, 2016, on its way to the eastern region of Indonesia. The ship did not carry any goods to or from Wakatobi as the local traders were not aware of the ships schedule, he added.

During the next trip, the ship is expected to carry goods from Surabaya to Wakatobi to help cut logistics costs significantly.
(T.F001/INE/KR-BSR/A014)

http://www.antaranews.com/en/news/102849/sea-toll-road-project-expected-to-ease-price-disparity

 

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Number of Chinese cancelling plans to visit Jakarta small: Garuda
Minggu, 31 Januari 2016 17:32 WIB | 471 Views

Garuda Indonesia in Beijing, China. (twitter.com)

Beijing (ANTARA News) - The number of prospective Chinese tourists who have cancelled plans to visit Jakarta after the bomb attack in Thamrin Boulevard in central Jakarta is small, a carrier has said.

General Manager of the Indonesian flag carrier Garuda Indonesia in Beijing, Hans Haliono said his side admitted that the number of prospective Chinese tourists who have cancelled plans to visit Jakarta after the bomb attack was small, namely about 10 to 20 people.

"That load factor for the Beijing-Jakarta route remain high namely 90 percent for January 2016, " he said here on Sunday.

Hans explained that the same thing also occurred on unscheduled flights (chartered flight). During the celebration of the Chinese New Year from January 21 to March 1, Garudas chartered flights with seat capacity occupation reaching 95 percent.

Garuda flies the Beijing-Jakarta route vice versa three times and the Beijing-Denpasar (Bali) route four times a week. It serves unscheduled flights from ten cities in China to Bali during the Chinese Lunar New Year 2016.

"After the Thamrin Boulevard bamb attack in Central Jakarta, many prospective Chinese tourists to Indonesia asked about the security condition in Indonesia, particularly Jakarta and Bali. We explained them the bombing and its handling and the fact that the situation had been taken under control and security has been restored, " Hans said.

He said his side regularly explained to the Chinese tourists through travel bureaus in China the situation in Indonesia. "There is no problem, they (prospective-tourists) could understand it," Hans said.

The Indonesian Tourism Ministry has said that Chinese tourists interest to visit Indonesia remains hight after the terror bombing in Central Jakartas Thamrin Boulevard on January 14, 2016.

"We found that during our tourism promoition in Wuhan, Shanghai and Beijing, Chinese tourists interest to visit Indonesia remains high, " said Jordi Paliama, the deputy director for Asia-Pacific Sale Mission of the Ministry of Tourism, said on the sidelines of the "Indonesia Direct Promotion" activities in Beijing on January 30-31,2016.

He said the number of those who asked about the Thamrin Boulevard bombing was even very small. But, he added, he explained that the bomb terror had been handled by security officers and the Indonesian security condition was now very conducive.

"We told them about the statement of the Indonesian National Police chief that Indonesia is secure, " he said.

"Direct Promotion" 2016 is one of a series of the Indonesian tourism promotional activities conducted in a number of cities in China to attract tourists from that country in the face of the Chinese New Lunar Year in 2016.

There are five travel bureaus which took part in the promotional activities: the Wanwei Travel Agency, Diao Yutai Travel Agency, Beijing Jet Tour International Travel Service, China Comfort Travel and Feijipiao.

The promotion event also presented Indonesian traditional songs and dances. Visitors also have interaction during the Indonesia Direct Promotion at New Zhongguan Shopping Center, Beijing.

The Tourism Ministry hopes to lure 12 million foreign tourists, particularly from Malaysia, Singapore, China, Australia and Japan, this year.

"From China, especially, we plan to attract a total of 1.7 million tourists to spend holidays in Indonesia," he said, addressing some 100 Chinese businessmen engaged in tourism industry.

The number of Chinese tourists who visited Indonesia in 2014 was 959,231. It increased by 18.77 percent to 1,139,281 in 2015.

In addition to Bali, Indonesia has developed 10 major tourist destinations, according to him.
(Uu.A014/KR-BSR/H-YH)


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Jakarta skyline, with current pace of constructions and landmark building. Jakarta will become the most highest density with highrise building and sky scrapper among cities in ASEAN before 2020 and one of the most financially instituted ones.

 

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11 Asian Games events to be held in Palembang: OCA
Minggu, 31 Januari 2016 20:55 WIB | 331 Views

Tsunekazu Takeda. (ocasia.org)

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) has decided to hold 11 sports events of the 2018 Asian Games in Palembang, South Sumatra.

"Three events are moved from Palembang to Jakarta. They weightlifting, table tennis and gymnastics," OCA deputy president Tsunekazu Takeda, said after attending a third coordination meeting of the Asian Games 2018 committee here on Sunday.

Takeda expressed appreciation to the preparations that have been made by the Indonesian central as well as regional governments especially with regard to renovation of venues.

"The Asian Games 2018 has 28 Olympic events, eight non-Olympic and one event proposed by the organizing country," he said.

OCA, Takeda said, is optimistic and believes Indonesia is capable of hosting the 2018 Asian Games.

The general chairman of the Indonesian Olympic Committee, Erick Thohir, said the sports branches that would be competed in Palembang include football qualifying round, canoeing/kayaking, volley ball qualifying round, rowing, shooting, triathlon, basket ball qualifying round, sepak takraw, cliff climbing, tennis qualifying round and soft-tennis qualifying round.

"I think jet skiing, para-gliding, bridge and road skating have been put in the note," he said regarding the sports event to be proposed by Indonesia as the host country.

He said the Indonesia Gold Program committee (Satlak Prima) and the ministry of sports would determine which one to be chosen.

"That is the domain of the Satlak Prima and the ministry of sports. The KOI (Indonesia Olympic Committee) is tasked with opening cooperation with foreign countries," he said.

(Reporting by Imam Santoso/Uu.H-YH/B003)

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