MANADO. China will build a power plant to support a special economic zone (KEK) to be built in North Sulawesi city of Bitung. The 2x150 megawatt power plant will supply power for the KEK and for the region in general,head of the provincial industry and trade office Jenny Karouw said. "The facility will be operated directly by a Chinese state company," Jenny said here on Friday (3/4), giving no name. The power plant project is only part of an ambitious project of KEK to be built also by the Chinese investor. She said the Chinese investor was serious in building the KEK as indicated by the signing of an agreement to build the necessary infrastructure. A member of the working group for the KEK, Dr Joubert Maramis, said the Chinese investor has long experience in building industrial estates such as in South Africa. There are many KEKs and industrial estate projects they want to build in Indonesia. For that purpose the government will prepare land for the KEK project that will need 534 hectares in Bitung. Construction of the KEK is to be carried out by phase and the first phase - construction of access road -- would start in 2015. The first phase of construction will cost Rp25 billion including Rp5 billion from the provincial budget and the rest from the central government. Earlier, North Sulawesi Governor Sinyo H Sarundajang said a Chinese investor would invest Rp35 trillion in the KEK project. Sinyo said the project would transform Bitung into one of big a special economic zones in the world. Sinyo said the Chinese investors has shown it is keeon on carrying out the KEK project that would make Bitung an important gate between the Pacific region and the rest of Indonesia. "I am confident that one day Bitung would become one of the important cities in the world. This area would be known as a special economic zone," he said. If the KEK project is successfully carried out , the city would be the economic locomotive for North Sulawesi as well as eastern part of Indonesia, he added. Construction of the KEK project will be carried out at the same time with the implementation of a number of other mega projects such as Manado-Bitung toll road, rail track, expansion of the runway of the Sam Ratulangi airport of Manado and a big water reservoir in Kuwil in the regency of Minahasa Utara The governor said the process of building the Bitung KEK would take 10 years, but now the plan is closer to reality with the interest shown by the Chinese investor. He said there is no problem in land clearing in Bitung as all lands to be used for the project are owned by the state. Land clearing has been one of the biggest impediments delaying implementation of many big infrastructure projects in the country. A memorandum of understanding on the project was already signed between the Indonesian and Chinese government in March.
China to build power infrastructure in Bitung KEK
MANADO. China will build a power plant to support a special economic zone (KEK) to be built in North Sulawesi city of Bitung. The 2x150 megawatt power plant will supply power for the KEK and for the region in general,head of the provincial industry and trade office Jenny Karouw said. "The facility will be operated directly by a Chinese state company," Jenny said here on Friday (3/4), giving no name. The power plant project is only part of an ambitious project of KEK to be built also by the Chinese investor. She said the Chinese investor was serious in building the KEK as indicated by the signing of an agreement to build the necessary infrastructure. A member of the working group for the KEK, Dr Joubert Maramis, said the Chinese investor has long experience in building industrial estates such as in South Africa. There are many KEKs and industrial estate projects they want to build in Indonesia. For that purpose the government will prepare land for the KEK project that will need 534 hectares in Bitung. Construction of the KEK is to be carried out by phase and the first phase - construction of access road -- would start in 2015. The first phase of construction will cost Rp25 billion including Rp5 billion from the provincial budget and the rest from the central government. Earlier, North Sulawesi Governor Sinyo H Sarundajang said a Chinese investor would invest Rp35 trillion in the KEK project. Sinyo said the project would transform Bitung into one of big a special economic zones in the world. Sinyo said the Chinese investors has shown it is keeon on carrying out the KEK project that would make Bitung an important gate between the Pacific region and the rest of Indonesia. "I am confident that one day Bitung would become one of the important cities in the world. This area would be known as a special economic zone," he said. If the KEK project is successfully carried out , the city would be the economic locomotive for North Sulawesi as well as eastern part of Indonesia, he added. Construction of the KEK project will be carried out at the same time with the implementation of a number of other mega projects such as Manado-Bitung toll road, rail track, expansion of the runway of the Sam Ratulangi airport of Manado and a big water reservoir in Kuwil in the regency of Minahasa Utara The governor said the process of building the Bitung KEK would take 10 years, but now the plan is closer to reality with the interest shown by the Chinese investor. He said there is no problem in land clearing in Bitung as all lands to be used for the project are owned by the state. Land clearing has been one of the biggest impediments delaying implementation of many big infrastructure projects in the country. A memorandum of understanding on the project was already signed between the Indonesian and Chinese government in March.
