Lebak Invites Investors Pledging Facility And Conducive Climate

Lebak, Banten, Nov 17 (Antara) - The district administration of Lebak said it offers facilities to attract more investors to the natural resource rich district . "We will simplify the licensing procedure for investors," Hari Setiono, head of the regional capital investment and integrated licensing service board (BMP2T), said. Currently many investors have indicated interest in doing business in Lebak as the district administration guarantees security and creates conducive business climate, Hari said. So far domestic and foreign companies have invested around Rp14 trillion in Lebak , he said. He said according to the Capital Investment coordinating Board (BKPM) Lebak is one of the best investment destinations in the country. He said the regency of Lebak is highly potential for business in the agricultural, plantation and forestry sectors. Lebak is the largest center of rubber and oil palm plantations in the province of Banten. The regency of Lebak needs investment in industry to process the plantation commodities , he said. "We hope there would be investment in rubber processing industry like tire factory," he said. Business in the mining sector is also potential, he said, adding in fact some investors have built cement factory in the sub-district of Bayah. Earlier, Hari said the district administration of Lebak had prepared a 2,000 hectare plot of land on which it hopes to build an international airport. The Lion Group, the operator of the country`s largest airline Lion Air, has indicated interest in building the project in the border area of sub-districts of Curugbitung and Maja, he said. He said BMP2T would facilitate the licensing procedure for the investor to build the airport that is expected to contribute to the district economic development. He said development of the airport would create a new Jakarta`s satellite city as there would be a residential area near the airport. The satellite city would accommodate 1.5 million people from Jakarta, he said. Currently investors are planning to build residential houses, trading and service centers around the location where the airport would be built. Meanwhile, Lion Group chief executive office Rusdi Kirana said the airport would have four runways including one for the giant aircraft type of Airbus A380. It will have railway access to link it with Lebak and Jakarta`s Tanah Abang wholesales center, Hari said. "The Lebak airport would have the capacity to accommodate 50 million passengers a year with direct flight to Abu Dhabi and Dubai, from which to the United States and Europe," he said.