The East Java Capital Investment Board (BPM) plans to develop seven industrial sectors on Madura Island when the Suramadu bridge, which will connect it to provincial capital Surabaya, is opened on June 10.

"We see good prospects for the seven sectors. Therefore, we hope that both foreign and domestic investors will be interested in investing their capital in Madura. It, of course, will boost economic growth on the island," East Java BPM chairman Hary Soegiri said Thursday in Surabaya.

Hary is confident the 5.4-kilometer bridge, which stretches over the Madura Strait, will attract investment and bring jobs to Madura.

Thus far the only way between Surabaya and Madura is by ferry. The opening of Indonesia's longest bridge is expected to increase economic growth in Madura.

"We expects the development of the seven sectors will able to absorb about 800,000 local workers. Hence, the economic growth in the island will be better," Hary said.

He added that approximately four million people live in Madura Island's four regencies - Bangkalan, Sampang, Pamekasan and Sumenep.

Hary said the seven sectors will include the development of a cargo seaport on Madura, a project which will be aided by the improvement of Madura's north and south roads; the expansion of a 600-hectare residential, trade and tourism area as well as the development of basic needs, like clean water, sanitation, energy and telecommunications.

The other areas to be developed include a 1,000-hectare international harbor at Tanjung Bulu, Pandan, North Bangkalan; the cattle husbandry industry; the salt industry in Sumenep and a 500-hectare jasmine plantation - to be processed into essential oil - in Tanjung village, Burneh district, Sumenep.

Hary said that PT Madura Industrial Seaport City (MISC) has invested Rp 3.2 trillion (US$317 million) for the development of trade, industry and seaports in Madura.

Other foreign corporations, he added, have had long-standing investments in Madura. Japanese concern PT Dwi Bina Utama invested US$126,500 in fish processing in Sumenep in 1998.

PT Aneka Boga Nusantara, a joint Japanese South Korean venture, has invested US$1.7 in fish processing in Sumenep since 1997.

Domestic firms have also invested in Maruda. PT Karya Dibya Mahardika has invested Rp 16.9 billion on a tobacco plantation in Sumenep, PT Adiluhung has invested Rp 7.5 billion on boat manufacture and repair in Bangkalan and PT Maxima Mutiara Indonesia has invested Rp 3 billion in the cultivation of pearl shell seedlings in Sumenep.

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