Chinese investors to enjoy special service at BKPM

JAKARTA. The Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) has uplifted service to Chinese investors with the launch of the China Desk to grab US$30 billion in investment commitment from the biggest economy in the Asia Pacific this year.

The desk will be handled by officers fluent in Mandarin, similar to that at the Japan and Korea desks launched previously.

"It has been delayed a bit from the previous plan to launch the desk in April. There are two main obstacles for Chinese investors in Indonesia. First, the language barrier and second, good partners," BKPM chief Franky Sibarani said on Monday in Jakarta.

The language barrier, he explained, has led to undelivered complaints to the board.

"Last year we helped a Chinese investor who incurred problems acquiring land in Banten. I met the president director face-to-face but then we reached a point where we could not communicate further due to a language barrier," he said.

Regarding local partner recommendations, the BKPM and Chinese government agreed to narrow the source of partners to only two, the Chinese Embassy in Indonesia and the BKPM, to make it easier to track problems with local partners.

Chinese economic and commercial counselor for Indonesia Wang Liping applauded the new desk. "This is beneficial to increase economic cooperation. Indonesia is currently number nine on China’s investment destination list," Wang said.

The BKPM recorded last year $21 billion in investment commitment from China. Of the amount, the agency has seen $2.1 billion realized commitment. With the new China desk, the agency targets a 42.86 percent commitment increase to $30 billion this year.

In the first quarter of 2016, Chinese investors realized $0.49 billion in investment, making it the fourth-biggest country investing in Indonesia during the period, after Singapore ( $3.02 billion ), Japan ( $1.67 billion ) and Hong Kong ( $0.53 billion ).

"Realization has increased 518.6 percent from $75.1 million in the first quarter of 2015. There has been an increasing trend over the past two years," Franky said.

During the first quarter of the year, the BKPM promoted Indonesia’s investment potential in four cities in China, namely Shanghai, Beijing, Huzhou, and Dongguan. It attracted $10.8 billion in commitment.

Five prioritized sectors for Chinese investors are infrastructure, agriculture, maritime and tourism. (Anton Hermansyah/ags)