JAKARTA (ANTARA) – Investments Minister Bahlil Lahadalia said the government is currently promoting a natural resource degradation project to bring added value to regional economic development.
„Our downstream project is a tool to bring added value to the region,” he said during a public lecture at Sairib Hidayatullah State Islamic University in Jakarta on Tuesday.
The Ministry of Investment has published the Regulation of the Minister of Investment No. 1 of 2022, which promotes cooperation between large investors in the regions and national entrepreneurs.
The regulation was created to encourage investment in the regions to ensure economic equity, Lahadalia added.
He also said that his party is pushing for investment outside Java Island to realize the vision of Indonesia-centric development, not just Java Island.
According to Lahadalia, since the third quarter of 2020, investment in Java has exceeded that outside the island.
Starting at 50.5 percent, it continued to grow and reach 53 percent in the second quarter of 2023.
„From the third quarter of 2020 to the second quarter of 2023, investment outside the island of Java has exceeded that of Java with 53 percent. We want to bring economic equality and development from the west to the east,” he said.
The minister added that the Indonesia Veda Bay Industrial Park (IWIP) in central Halmahera, North Maluku, which focuses on nickel ore refining and processing facilities, is an example of a downstream industrial area that has contributed to regional economic development.
According to the ministry, North Maluku has registered an economic growth of 10 percent in the period from 2018 to 2020.
After the downstream industry starts operating in 2021, North Maluku’s economic growth increases to 16.79 percent and surpasses 20 percent in 2022 (22.94 percent).
It was recorded at 20.26 percent in the first half of 2023.
The IWIP industrial area also absorbs workers from the surrounding communities.
„North Maluku’s economic growth is over 20 percent. Residents living near the facility are already employed in the industry,” he said.
Lahadalia said the nickel downstream project is critical as inventory is needed in the auto industry, which is starting to move toward using green energy by producing electric cars.
He explained that one of the most important raw materials in the electric car industry is nickel as a component in electric batteries.
Indonesia holds 25 percent of the world’s total nickel reserves.
„Electric car components are 40 percent battery and 60 percent body. Meanwhile, cell battery components are nickel, cobalt, manganese and lithium. Indonesia has 25 percent of the world’s nickel reserves,” he revealed.
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