INFRASTRUCURE FACILITIES IN SABANG DEVLOPMENT ZONE BEING IMPROVED

Banda Aceh, Feb 7 (ANTARA) - The Sabang Zone Development Board (BPKS) is making continuous efforts to improve infrastructure facilities in the zone to attract investors, a spokesman said.

"We are at present constructing a seaport and roads on Weh and Aceh islands to facilitate more rapid economic growth and to attract investors," BPKS chairman Teuku Saiful Ahmad said here on Saturday.

He said under Law No.36 and 37/2000, the government had declared the two islands in Aceh Besar district as a trade and free port zone.

But to attract investors, infrastructure facilities such as sea port, roads, electricity, and clean water needed to be provided.

Weh Island is known for its ecosystem, and therefore the government had declared 60 square kilometers of the island and sea around it as a wildlife protection area.

The Island is located in the Andaman Sea where two groups of islands, the Nicobar Islands and Andaman Islands, are scattered in one line from Sumatra to the north up to the Burma plate.

According to Saiful Ahmad, BPKS was established by the government to accelerate regional economic development in Sabang and therefore it was receiving Rp400 billion in funds per year from the state budget.

"Although the funds allocated by the government from the state budget are insufficient for BPKS to develop a region from zero, we are optimistic that Sabang's regional economy will continue to improve in the years to come," Saiful Ahmad said.

He added that a number of domestic and foreign investors who had visited Sabang said the area was good for investment, even the best place for investment in the world.

Saiful Ahmad said a sea port with a 800-meter-lomg pier facing Sabang Bay was under construction.

"Besides the port, a ring road to facilitate access to tourist object on Weh island is also under construction," he added.