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Govt inaugurates 17 new bonded logistic centers
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Customs and Excise director general Heru Pambudi (left) shakes hands with PT Toyota Motor Manufacturing Indonesia's vice president director Warih Andang Tjahjono (center) on the sidelines of the opening ceremony of the Jakarta International Logistic Summit & Expo (JILSE) 2016 on Oct. 19 in JIEXPO Kemayoran, Jakarta. (Antara/Ferdi)
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n a bid to pave the way for Indonesia to become Southeast Asia’s main logistic hub, the Customs and Excise Office has inaugurated 17 new bonded logistics center (PLBs) on Wednesday, adding to the 11 PLBs introduced by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo in March.
Heru Pambudi, the Customs and Excise director general, said the additional PLBs are important to curtail high logistic costs that had made businesses in Indonesia less competitive.
“PLBs have proven to make logistic costs more efficient. It reduces the cost of stockpiling by 25 percent on average and decreased dwelling time to 1.2 days,” he said during a logistic summit titled “Make Indonesia a Logistic Hub in Asia Pacific” in Jakarta.
The recently launched PLBs served various sectors such as oil and gas, maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO), automotive and pharmacy.
The PLBs were developed as part of the government’s second economic stimulus package. PLBs allow imported goods to be stored for up to three years for later distribution, temporarily exempt from import duty and import-related taxes during that period.
With this concept, firms could cut logistic costs because they do not have to park imported goods in neighboring countries like Singapore or Malaysia anymore.
Coordinating Economic Minister Darmin Nasution said the newly launched PLBs should be useful to curtail high logistic costs because they would be spread across many islands including Sumatra and Kalimantan.
“The wide coverage of PLBs will create opportunities from being a more evenly spread logistic distribution [network], which will lead to a stronger economy,” he said. (win/evi)
