TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The government will focus their attention to develop Sorong and Papua Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in a bid to give boost to eastern Indonesia industry. The government will face some issues, however, such as land acquisition, mainstay industry, the infrastructure and administrative issues.
“The status of the land is a pressing issue as it has often been disputed in Papua,” said the National Development Planning Minister/the National Development Planning Agency Head Sofyan Djalil in a written statement Thursday.
Trade Minister Thomas Lembong said that Papua has massive tourism potential. Therefore, he hoped that the construction of Sorong and Merauke SEZs would not damage the environment. “Don’t let it damage its tourism potential,” Thomas said.
According to Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, all administrative requirements for construction in Sorong have been met. The government will propose the draft government regulation to regulate Sorong SEZ. “We have approved Sorong as an SEZ and we will soon work on the regulation,” he said.
Sorong SEZ will be built on a 523.7 hectare area. Its land acquisition and infrastructure construction will be carried out in two rounds: 2017-18 and 2019-20. The state-owned electricity company PLN has declared its readiness to supply 40 megawatt of electricity. Meanwhile, the infrastructure will also be improved.
The government, however, has yet to make plans for the development of Merauke SEZ as it still need to carry out technical studies. “Basically, we have agreed that Merauke will be an SEZ. But we have to hold another technical meeting to make a decision,” he said.
ANGELINA ANJAR SAWITRI
