Tons of gold at AcehNorthern Sumatra is sitting on over 20 million tons of gold nottoo mention, the other natural resources.
No wonder CTN & EASare taking off.
Aceh is a province thatis blessed by abundant naturalr esources and wealththat have long lain undeveloped due to a 32-year insurgency that onlyrecently came to an end. Now, in a new era of peace and development afterthelong years of civil unrest and the 2004tsunamidisaster,the opportunities for business appear almost endless in the country’swesternmost province as Andi Haswidi reported in Business News.
The region is blessed with bountifulmineral, energy, marine, agricultural and plantation resources that arenow open to new investment.
According to a recent reportfrom the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, the province holds anestimated 20 million tons of gold, 600million tons of copper, 32 milliontons of platinum, 32 million tons of mercury, 53,000tons of lead, 350,000tons of iron ore, 6.4 million tons of iron sand and600 million tons ofmolybdenum.
On top of all that, it also boasts some 114 billiontons of coal reserves.
“The mining and energy potentials describedby the report illustrate just how big the opportunities are. And almostall of these resources have never been touched before due to the longyears of conflict,” Aceh Investor Out reach Office director Syafruddin Chansaid in BandaAceh.
The mining and energy sectorsshould serve as the locomotive to get the province’s economic growth backon track. Things have already started to move thanks to the Rp 60trillion (about US$6.6 billion)being invested in rehabilitation projects.
But there is a growing concern that the provincial economycould grind to a virtual halt again after there habilitation work by the AcehandNias Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency (BRR) is completedin 2009.
“We are currently focusing on agricultural and marineproducts as regards developing the province’s economy. However, in thefuture, the most promising sector will be energy and minerals, such ascoal,”BRR economics and business deputy Said Faisal Baabud told thePost earlier this week.
Aceh Governor Irwandi Yusuf hasacknowledged the importance of mineral resources in the provincialeconomic plan,despite their adverse consequences for the environment.
Inorder to minimize destructive environmental impacts,the provincial administration has introduced tight licensing proceduresfor mining operations.
“We have received a lot of miningexploration proposals, but so far have only licensed three companies,” hesaid as quoted by the local Serambi daily in its Wednesday edition.
Inthe agricultural sector, key commodities grown in the province includerice,corn, soybeans, nuts, sweet potatoes and other edible tubers.
In2005alone, only a year after the tsunami disaster, the rice fields of Acehproduced 1.4 million tons of the national staple. In the same year,Acehalso produced 59,370 tons of Arabica and Robusta coffee,250,000 tons of crude palm oil(CPO) and 78,031 tons of rubber.
The potentialof the marine and fisheries industry in Acehhas yet tobe developed. The province has a coastline extending to 1,600squarekilometers, and an exclusive economic zone (ZEE) of534,520square kilometers. In all, the province has the potential to produce173,045tons of fisheries products per year, excluding the ZEE.
Withthe help of the World Bank’s private sector developmentfirm,the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the province hasbegun to promote the farming of what are touted to be the world’sbest black tiger shrimps. Production currently amounts to about 8,000tons per year, and the industry has the potential to generateannual foreign exchange earnings of up to $50 million.
Investment proceduresin Aceh have also beens implified throughthe establishment of the Aceh One-Stop Investment Service (KPTSP).Business permits can now be processed in 7 working days undernormal circumstances, and in one or two days in special cases if allthe requirements have been satisfied.
“Aceh is now in need offoreign investors to bring in the capital and the technological know-howto help increase the value of our products.For those who invest a minimumof Rp5 billion, we are ready to exempt them from paying local taxes,”KPTSP director Said Yulizal promised.
For some early birds, thepromise of more relaxed investment procedures has been too good to miss.Since it was set up two months ago, the KPTSP has issued more than1,000business permits to local and foreign investors.