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apan-based Mitsubishi Corporation will invest US$18 billion in Indonesia over the next five years for car production, infrastructure development, a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant and ferronickel smelting, according to the Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) .

BKPM chairman Gita Wirjawan said on Friday that Mitsubishi was targeting to produce two million cars in Indonesia within five years. Mitsubishi’s car production was up almost 58 percent to 106,483 units in 2010, up from 61,735 in 2009.

As the factory construction would take one year, Mitsubishi would produce 500,000 cars a year beginning in 2012, Gita said.

He said Mitsubishi also planned to develop infrastructure projects in big cities called Metropolitan Priority Areas (MPA), including Jakarta.

Gita said part of the planned investment would be used to finance the construction of a LNG plant near the Donggi and Senoro gas fields in Central Sulawesi.

Mitsubishi is cooperating with state-owned oil and gas company PT Pertamina and private firm PT Medco Energi Internasional.

Gita said Mitsubishi was also taking part in the establishment of a ferronickel smelting plant in Teluk Weda, Halmahera, North Maluku, in cooperation with Eramet of France and state general mining company PT Aneka Tambang. (lfr)