The Gulf state of Qatar has expressed a commitment to invest in tourism in Mandalika, West Nusa Tenggara (NTT), and natural gas power plants, following the official visit of Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani.
Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said the government would prepare several project proposals related to the plan, including the Mandalika special economic zone (SEZ) in which the Qatari government wants to invest in halal tourism.
“We will hold a meeting this week and send some proposals to the Qatari government,” be said after an internal meeting with President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo at the State Palace in Jakarta on Monday.
During the visit of Sheikh Tamim last week, President Jokowi showed pictures of Mandalika to the emir. Sheikh Tamim who is a keen scuba diver responded to Jokowi by expressing his interest in investing in the tourist destination.
Mandalika SEZ covers a 1,175-hectare area and is managed by the state-ovvned Indonesia Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC), which also manages Nusa Dua tourism in Bali. The land-clearing process was finally completed in April, after a presidential instruction (inpres) for land clearing was issued, ending a 29-year hiatus.
Currently, ITDC has scored Rp 13.1 trillion (US$960.54 million) in investment commitments from eight investors. As of October, out of Rp 13.1 trillion, the realized investment reached Rp 4.1 trillion.
The government plans the SEZ to have 10,000 hotel rooms, 2,000 of which will be available in 2019. In 2020, the SEZ is projected to absorb 58,000 employees. The eight investors are Vinci Development Cluster with Ptp 6.7 trillion of investment, Shaza hotel with a Rp 2 trillion investment, Club Med Hotel with Rp 1.1 trillion, Paramount Hotel with Rp 1 trillion, Lot H7 hotel with Rp 900 billion, Pullman Hotel with Rp 650 billion, X2 hotel Rp 300 billion, and Royal Tulip Hotel at Rp 250 billion Luhut said the government was extending Lombok International Airport’s runway to allow bigger planes to land on Mandalika.
“We will build a longer runway. Now it is 2,600 meters long, and we will build it to 3,000 meters so Airbus A3805 can land there,” he said. Other than investment in tourism, he added, Qatar had agreed to supply liquefied natural gas (LNG) at $7.16 per million British thermal units (MMBTU) for Qatar-supported gas power plant projects in Indonesia.
Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Ignasius Jonan said the LNG would supply the Sumbagut 3 and 4 power plants. The gas based power plants were a joint venture project between PT Pembangkitan Jawa Bali (PJB) the subsidiary of state-owned electricity firm PLN - and Qatar’s state-owned firm Nebras Power.
“During the official visit of the Qatari Emir, PJB and Nebras signed the heads of agreement. More details about the projects will follow,” he said.
In Sumbagut 3 and 4 - set to have a total output of 500 megawatts, Nebras Power is injecting $1 billion comprising $ 800 million for the power stationand $200 million for a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU). The power plants will start operation in 2019.
“We’ll allow Qatar to supply the gas for the power plants as long as the price, including the cost of bringing the gas to the plant gate, is 14 percent lower than the ICP [lndonesian Crude Price,” Jonan said.
The President, he continued, had allowed gas imports as long as the price was lower than the ICP to support the local industry. However, if the imported gas could not meet the price criteria, the industry should choose the locally supplied gas instead.
Jakarta Post, Page-13, Tuesday, October 24, 2017
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