EASTERN PROMISE
Local and foreign investors are eyeing eastern Indonesia. Papua, Sulawesi, Gorontalo and North Maluku are predicted to be the new growth center. But the lack of infrastructure remains an impediment.
October 7, 2008
A BREATH of fresh air is blowing from the Middle East into Indonesia. The Bin Ladin Group, a Saudi conglomerate, plans to enter into the agribusiness sector by planting rice on 500,000 hectares of land in Merauke, Papua. They are also interested in a similar venture in Central Sulawesi, on 80,000 hectares of land.
The total funds to be invested in the two provinces are immense, namely US$4.3 billion, nearly half the deficit in Indonesia's national
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