Once completed, Kendal Industrial Park (KIP) in Central Java will bear the name "Park by the Bay".
Chief executive Ling Poon Lim said that the name was a nod to landmarks in Singapore such as Gardens by the Bay, and that the development will reflect characteristics the city-state is known for.
These will include, among others, a 2km pedestrian street similar to Orchard Road, a golf course, a 42km cycling track and a spot to view the sunset, just like the waterfront gardens in Marina Bay.
Kendal is about half an hour's drive from Semarang, Central Java's capital, and sits on the coast facing the Java Sea. The Indonesia-Singapore joint venture will be a self-contained industrial township with modern facilities such as ready-built factories, land parcels for commercial and residential development, and resort projects.
Mr Hyanto Wihadi, a director of Jababeka, which is jointly developing the park with Sembcorp Development, said the KIP is integrated with Kendal Port and connected by railway to the larger Tanjung Emas Port in Semarang.
Indonesia's Industry Minister Airlangga Hartarto said last week that President Joko Widodo and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong would officially open the KIP tomorrow.
The 2,700ha site is the first major industrial investment in Indonesia by a Singapore company outside of Batam. The first phase of the project, which covers 860ha, should be completed by 2020, but Mr Ling said on Friday that 21 firms, including three from Singapore, had already secured land in the KIP.
-
STRONG ECONOMIC PARTNERS
-
The Kendal Industrial Park is just one in a long line of investments in Indonesia by Singapore companies. The Republic has been consistently among the top five investors in Indonesia since 2001.
US$7.1b
Value of direct investments from Singapore to Indonesia from January to September this year. That is one-third of Indonesia's total foreign investments and higher than the amounts from Japan (US$4.5 billion), China and Hong Kong (US$1.6 billion each), over the same period.
US$5.9b
Value of direct investments from Singapore to Indonesia last year, making the city-state Indonesia's largest foreign investor in 2015.
S$58.7b
Amount of bilateral trade between the two countries last year.
2.7m
The number of tourist arrivals from Indonesia to Singapore last year.
1.6m
The number of tourist arrivals from Singapore to Indonesia over the same period.
These figures mean the two countries were also each other's top source of tourist arrivals last year.
SOURCE: INDONESIA INVESTMENT COORDINATING BOARD (BKPM), SINGAPORE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, SINGAPORE TOURISM BOARD.
Mr Hyanto said as well as Singapore, there were investors from Japan and Malaysia, including industry players in the furniture, food, steel and garment sectors.
The total investment value by the companies is expected to exceed 4.3 trillion rupiah (S$453 million) and Mr Airlangga said the KIP could potentially create some 4,000 jobs for people in Semarang.
Jababeka chairman S. D. Darmono said partnering Sembcorp was an easy choice because the firm had a proven record in developing industrial estates all over the world.
"We were looking for a foreign partner who understands Indonesia and has a similar background with us in industrial estate development," he said. "Of course, a Singapore firm was my first choice."
