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West Sumatra’s Mandeh set to become tourism zone
Mandeh, a hilly coast in West Sumatra is close to becoming a new tourism-oriented special economic zone (SEZ) as the provincial administration reached a deal with residents over land purchase
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andeh, a hilly coast in West Sumatra is close to becoming a new tourism-oriented special economic zone (SEZ) as the provincial administration reached a deal with residents over land purchase.
The local administration will finalize the administrative procedures regarding the land purchase within three months.
“The local communities have signed a memorandum of understanding with us. We asked the central government to give us three months to complete the administrative procedures,” West Sumatra Deputy Governor Nasrul Abit told The Jakarta Post after a meeting at the Office of the Coordinating Maritime Affairs Ministry in Jakarta on Thursday.
Mandeh is located in South Pesisir regency, some 45 kilometers to the south of Padang city, West Sumatra’s capital. The region features hills, rivers and nine small islands.
To achieve special economic zone status, the local administration has to clear at least 400 hectares of land. Located on Ameh Hill, the customary land belongs to four communities.
After securing the land, the Tourism Ministry will verify the agreements and report to the Office of the Coordinating Economic Ministry. Based on a recommendation from the office, the President can then declare Mandeh as a tourism-oriented SEZ.
“Hopefully, Mandeh can achieve tourism SEZ status this year so investors can start development projects in 2019,” Nasrul said.
South Pesisir regent Hendrajoni confirmed this, saying the four local communities had even given permission to the local administration to use 600 ha instead of the 400 ha required.
“The four communities have agreed to give 600 hectares of land. It can be developed further as Ameh Hill has a total 1,200 hectare area, which is all customary land,” he told The Jakarta Post.
The regent said the hill could be a nice location for hotels and restaurants as people could enjoy the view of Mandeh shore and small islands from the hill. He said investors from Qatar had expressed interest.
“Qatari investors are interested in developing Mandalika tourism SEZ in West Nusa Tenggara and they are also interested here,” he told the Post.
The regent has also received interest from Kuwait, another Middle Eastern Country, who wanted to invest in one of the small islands, namely Marak island.
“Indonesian Ambassador to Kuwait Tatang Budi Utama Razak had brought the investor here and the local customary community that owned Marak Island had agreed to allow investment. Hopefully, we will go to Kuwait soon to sign an agreement,” Hendrajoni said.
The regency has one success story regarding island concession for tourism with Cubadak Island.
In 1992, the island was rented out on a long term contract to Italian Gianluigi “Nanni” Casalegno and his wife Frederica. Nanni developed an exclusive resort called Cubadak Paradiso.
“Paradiso resort has attracted wealthy tourists to Mandeh,” Hendrajoni said.
Nanni passed away in 2014, with the Cubadak Paradiso contract running until 2027. The resort is now managed by a French couple, Dominique Murail and her husband Marco.
“Paradiso is well managed and we are happy. We hope that the management want to extend the contract,” the regent said.
Hendrajoni added that a new road connecting Padang City and Mandeh was currently under construction. It will cut travel time between the two locations to less than an hour compared to the current 90 minutes.
“The West Sumatra provincial administration has allocated Rp 71 billion [US$4.97 million] to building the road. Around 15 kilometers out of 45 km has been completed and we hope it will be finished in 2019,” he told the Post.
