The Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) is aiming to provide assistance for 1,000 companies this year in an effort to boost investment realization in Southeast Asia’s largest economy.

BKPM head Franky Sibarani said on Monday the board would provide assistance for companies that had obtained principal permits and started construction of their projects this year.

“The monitoring will primarily focus on projects outside Java and those located in remote and border areas. Around 60 percent of projects that will be monitored are located in those places,” Franky said during a halal bi halal (post-Ramadhan gathering) event in his office in South Jakarta.

There are 5,067 projects that have obtained principal permits and started construction in the first quarter of the year, almost a fifth of which involve domestic investment worth Rp 50.3 trillion (US$3.8 billion) and are projected to employ 136,560 workers, according to BKPM data.

Meanwhile, the remaining projects comprise $ 6.9 billion of foreign investment and are projected to employ 190,610 workers.

Franky said the assistance program, which is spearheaded by the BKPM deputy for investment monitoring and implementation, had been ongoing since June and was aimed at expediting construction in monitored projects.

The assistance includes, among other factors, identification of problems that would possibly hamper the progress of construction, as well as mediating on behalf of companies that have problems, such as land procurement, with related ministries and other government institutions.

“Hopefully, we can disseminate the progress of the monitoring every month,” Franky said, without detailing the source of the investment for those projects.

The BKPM has also conducted the assistance program for 200 projects worth Rp 512.6 trillion across the country that have been granted principal permits and commenced construction last year. Realized investment of those projects amounted to Rp 264.7 trillion.

Indonesian Science Institute economist Latif Adam said the BKPM’s assistance program was important as a primary tool to determine problems hampering investment realization in both remote and border areas in the country.

“The program is in line with the government’s aim to develop border areas in Indonesia,” Latif said in an interview Monday.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo envisions accelerating development in border areas in a bid to spread prosperity, which has long been centered in Java. Recently, the government reiterated plans to improve economic development in Natuna Islands, a part of Riau Islands province, which is located between mainland Malaysia and Kalimantan, as it has discovered that local fishermen reap only 9 percent of the potential catch in Natuna waters.

Latif said there were at least two problems hampering investment realization in border and remote areas: lack of infrastructure and human resource capability.

“It is difficult for companies to build their projects in remote or border areas if there is not adequate infrastructure to connect their plant to the market. Adequate infrastructure will boost investment and economic growth,” Latif said.

Meanwhile, he added that investment projects in remote or border areas would bear fruit if there were competent human resources available, as well as support from local administrations, often blamed for hampering investments due to their convoluted bureaucracy. (mos)

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