Indonesia Prioritizes Local Investors in IKN, Says Minister Bahlil

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesian Investment Minister Bahlil Lahadalia said that the government would prioritize domestic investors in the Indonesian Capital City or Nusantara or IKN project, putting them in cluster 1.

“For PMA (foreign investment), we will place it in the second cluster,” Bahlil said at the Investment Ministry office on Monday, April 29. “So, national business players will be prioritized, and then we will encourage PMA.”

According to him, foreign investment would be encouraged for high-tech projects, such as in the transportation sector. “We will encourage foreign companies that have the technology, capabilities, and experience,” he added.

The development of IKN is estimated to cost Rp 466 trillion, of which 19-20 percent will be funded by the state budget. The government aims to attract Rp 100 trillion of non-budget investments this year, and the IKN authority is optimistic about achieving this target.

“We are optimistic. We have to be optimistic in the work,” Secretary of the IKN Authority Jaka Santos said at the Indonesian Ombudsman in Jakarta on Wednesday, March 20.

Jaka claimed that the IKN Authority had received foreign investment. Previously, it had been claimed many times that the investment would be through a cooperation scheme with domestic investors.

“We cannot say whether it is pure [foreign investment] or not. Money doesn't have a citizenship. For example, PT X cooperates with foreigners and says it (the investment) is 50:50 but we won't know if all the money belongs to foreign investors, we couldn't know,” said Jaka. “However, the cooperation exists, and it is an investment.”

RIRI RAHAYU

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