Rp.708 Trillion Investment Hampered Due to Bottlenecks, President Jokowi Says
Twenty-four investment projects worth Rp708 trillion (US$50 billion) have currently stalled due to a number of bottlenecks, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has said.
“Actually, no need to attract more foreign investors. First, we must manage the Rp708 trillion-worth pending investment first. We also have other potential investment amounting to Rp1,600 trillion (US$116.8 billion),” President Jokowi said at the Opening of 2020 National Working Meeting on Investment in Jakarta, Thursday (20/2).
According to the President, the figure is a tremendous amount, almost similar to the State Budget, yet it has never been managed properly. He cited an example of South Korea’s Lotte Company that has expressed interest to invest in Banten province since four years ago but the investment has always hampered by land acquisition problem.
“Thus, I appeal to every regional head and every head of PTSP One-Stop Integrated Service (PTSP) office to serve all investors. Should any issue arises, please help those investors to resolve the problems. Their investments can create so many new jobs for our people,” President Jokowi said.
With such enormous amount of investment, the President added, the investors will build factories, industries, manufactures to create job opportunities for nearly seven million unemployed citizens across the country.
“If the Rp708 trillion-worth investment can be realized, the potential Rp1,600 trillion may follow. No need to lure more investors. Show them that Indonesia will serve them well,” President Jokowi said, adding that the rule applies to all investors, whether small, medium or big ones.
In the meantime, regarding an omnibus law for investors, President Jokowi underlined that once the law is passed, the MSMEs players will no longer need to process numerous business permits.
“As long as they have only one permit, that’s enough,” the President said, adding that the ease to obtain permits will also ease them to access financial products for capital injection. (FID/EN)
Translated by: Estu Widyamurti
Reviewed by: M. Ersan Pamungkas