TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia's Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Hatta Rajasa, claimed there were improvements involving the smelter development in Indonesia. Based on the report he received, there had been four companies showing improvement in the factory processing development.

"I don’t remember the details of the companies. Please ask the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources [to find out more]," said Hatta earlier today.

Hatta requested that the party involved to always support the process of those smelter developments by assuring several matters such as land acquisition problems. Hatta objects to the statement that the government was giving incentives on export customs. The minister said the government was only giving tariff adjustment from the progress of smelter developments.

"There are no revisions. But we will see on how the smelter development progress is doing," said Hatta. That policy is the government’s effort to force smelter developments. "If smelters are developed, export customs are zero."

The head of Capital Investment Coordination (BKPM), Mahendra Siregar, requested that the discussion is implemented soon. Commitments from companies that will be building smelters are quite big. "But the investment progress is slow," said Mahendra.

According to him, an incentive export customs could be done with a complete incentive formula. "We wish not to lose a momentum. The investment process is too long, while there are plenty of people who are interested," said Hatta.

ANGGA SUKMA WIJAYA