TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Foreign companies from Singapore and China are planning to build textile factories in Indonesia, revealed Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Investment. The investments are expected to boost the country’s economy.

“The investors are from Indonesia, Singapore, and China,” the ministry’s Deputy for Investment and Mining Coordination, Septian Hario Seto, told Tempo on Thursday, June 27.

While declining to mention specific names, Seto said that a total of 12 companies are currently involved in the plan.

He also said that the factories will likely be located in West Java and Central Java, including Subang, Brebes, Karawang, Klaten, Solo, and Sukoharjo.

The construction of the new textile factory is projected to generate tens of thousands of new jobs, or even up to 41,000, Seto added.

During a MINDialogue discussion broadcast on CNBC TV’s YouTube channel on June 20, Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, highlighted the interest of Chinese textile companies in investing in Indonesia and providing dormitories for its 108,000 employees. He said that Kertajati was the proposed location.

Luhut also instructed Minister of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono to expedite the land affairs. Apart from Kertajati, he said a textile factory will also be built in Sukoharjo, Central Java. “If we want to have 6.5-percent or 7-percent economic growth, we have to ask for export-oriented investment,” he said.

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