TEMPO.CO, Jakarta-The Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) said that Taiwanese investors had expressed interest in investing US$2.5 billion in the Indonesia’s petrochemical industry to produce ammonia and mega methanol.
BKPM head Franky Sibarani said that the investors are still looking for a perfect location and considering the availability of natural gas supplies as the raw material.
“The investment value is quite huge. Therefore, we will keep looking at it until the investment is realized, including the location and the availability of the raw material,” Franky said in a press release on Thursday, March 10, 2016.
He explained that the investors have planned to build two factories, each with a size of 100 hectares, in two phases. The first phase would be aimed at producing 600 kilo metric ton per annum (KMTA) of ammonia, and the second phase would target to produce 1,800 KMTA.
“The petrochemical industry is one of the strategic industries. Ammonia and mega methanol can produce many derivative products, such as consumer textile, industrial textile, engineering plastic, resin, rubber and acrylic fiber,” he said.
According to Franky, the investment is expected to support the investment realization target for 2016 set at Rp594.8 trillion (US$43.8 billion). The target of foreign investment realization has been set at Rp386 trillion (US$28.4 billion), accounting for 65 percent of the total investment target.
Mohamad Faizal, head of the Indonesian Commerce and Economy Body (KDEI) in Taipei, said that he was ready to intensively watch and facilitate the investment plan. He said that the petrochemical industry was expected to boost Indonesia’s export value and stimulate the development of other industries.
“As suggested by the BKPM head, we have scheduled a meeting between the investors and the Upstream Oil and Gas Regulatory Special Task Force (SKK Migas) to discuss related moves to realize the project development. We will help to address obstacles related to raw materials,” he added.