Wednesday, 29 January 2014

IN SUPPORTING DOWNSTREAMIZATION INDUSTRY IN BORDER AREAS MUST BE DEVELOPED



To develop the industry, particularly in support of downstreamization, the birder region must also be developed as far as all the raw materials for the industry is available in the region concerned. As stated by Deputy Minister of Industry, Alex SW Retraubun, during his visit to Sebatik District, North Kalimantan, Thursday (January 1), if Indonesia does not attempt to utilize raw material, the benefits will slowly but surely be utilize raw material, the benefits will slowly but surely be utilized by Malaysia.

“From here we see a potential of raw materials such as seaweed, oil palm, and cocoa plants. Because the Indonesian nation should first seek to build semi-finished industry in the region. For example, seaweed. So here I am encouraging how people are started t be motivated to boost more supply of seaweed, meaning from the upstream industry sector.

The next production process starts  from the downstream sector with the construction of new plants. But with 1000 tons per month produced by Nunukan Regency, it was only 30% of the available potential. Therefore, the potential can still be optimized up to 3-fold. When that happens, it means that the efforts have been quite massive and will create people’s economy. It also includes increase in APBD (regional budget) to be allocated in seaweed, he told Business News.

With regard to the industry agenda, we look at Sebatik island, in the part which belongs to Malaysia, palm oil mill has been built with a capacity of 65 tons per hour. What was Malaysia’s intention in establishing industry there? They want to look for opportunities to utilize raw materials from Indonesia. Because Nunukan and Sebatik regions have a huge potential of oil palm trees. So here we see that Malaysia has better utilized the birder region compared to Indonesia.

The issue of gaps in the border region is very strong. That is why the government finally split the North Borneo Province to become the 34th province. Similarly, Sebatik District as one of the outer islands will soon serve as a city. This is all government effort to improve development touch, Alex added.

Meanwhile, about whether or not it is necessary to build industrial estates in Nunukan, besides that it is in accordance with the Law on Industry, and if later based on a feasibility study, the region is proven feasible to serve as an industrial area, the government will build an industrial are there. The government will also see that the economy of the region can become more easily driven. Because based on the law on industry, the government has been able to build industrial zones. Previously, there were more private sectors who build industrial estates.

In an official visit, among others, to West Sebatik region, we witnessed a variety of potential of marine fishery products that have begun to be processed, such as Ambalat anchovies and ebi (dried shrimp) which are still produced traditionally by the local community, and also a variety of processed products from the sea. Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Center which is located not far from the Indonesian-Malaysian border region, presents various kinds of processed products of banana, which is one of the mainstays of the region, such as banana chips.

Formerly, Director General of Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) of the Ministry of Industry, Euis Saedah, stated that in support of eco fashion program, the Directorate General of Small and Medium Enterprises in collaboration with Muslim fashion designers were utilizing natural dyes from untapped materials. “I was ordered by one of the designers, so that seaweed waste is not disposed, because it can be reprocessed into natural dyes. In addition we are also currently examining various marine biotas that exist in various regions, to find out its potential to become the basis for natural dye for textiles and garments,” he told Business News. (E)  

Business News - January 22, 2014 

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