Jakarta, June 8 (Antara) - The Special Economic Zones (KEKs) in the country have relatively developed well, with a total of 11 KEKs already approved by the government and with an investment of Rp221 trillion.
Arun Lhokseumawe KEK in Aceh is also included in the 11 special economic zones. Though the Arun Lhokseumawe KEK is still new and is yet to be operational, it already has at least Rp100 billion investment. It has the prospect to open a new chapter in the economic development in the country's westernmost province.
It has the potential to drive the Aceh economic development after the depletion of the province's oil and gas reserves and decline of its agriculture, forestry, and fisheries sectors following the tsunami disaster in late 2004.
After all, the National Council of Special Economic Zones (KEK) will shortly decide on the operational status and final evaluation of at least six KEKs in the country.
"The National Council of KEK will hold a session in the near future and decide the worthiness of those KEKs that would be operational to serve and attract investment," Wahyu Utomo, head of the executive team of the KEK National Council, informed the media in Jakarta on Thursday (July 6).
Therefore, the people of Aceh have called for the position of the Regional Government of Aceh Province in the Arun Lhokseumawe KEK to be reinforced. According to Muhammad Abdullah, the deputy chairman of the Aruh Lhokseumawe Development Acceleration Team, the central government should strengthen the position of the regional government in obtaining its rights to operate the Arun Lhokseumawe KEK.
"Government Regulation (PP) No. 5 Year of 2017 on Arun Lhokseumawe KEK weakens the position of the Aceh Regional Government in obtaining its management rights of the KEK," Abdullah told a Focus Group Discussion in Jakarta last month (June 15).
In the regulation, there is a change in the status of the party which proposed the establishment of the KEK from the Regional Government of Aceh to a consortium chaired by the state-owned oil company Pertamina.
By acting as the party which proposed the establishment of the special economic zone, the Aceh Regional Government will have a higher bargaining power in carrying out negotiations with strategic partners such as Pertamina, state fertilizer firm PT PIM, port operator PT Pelindo I, and other investors.
With that status, the Regional Government also has the right to assign operator companies and strategic partners whose share ownership is limited to a certain period, Abdullah argued.
According to Ichsan M. Ali Basyah Amin, in his article published in aceh.tribunenews.com, Arun Lhokseumawe KEK has the potential to reinvigorate Aceh's economy in the face of the province running out of oil and gas reserves and the end of its Special Autonomy.
Until now, Aceh's own economic performance is still not encouraging. Data from the Provincial Central Burau of Statistics (BPS) in 2016) shows that in 2015, Aceh's economic growth without oil/gas amounted to 4.27 percent, below the national economic growth, which reached 4.88 percent.
The level of poverty and open unemployment rate (TPT) in Aceh, which was 17.08 percent and 9.93 percent, respectively, was far above the national poverty and TPT level, which is at 11.13 percent and 6.18 percent.
The presence of KEK is expected to boost economic growth through increased exports and investments with various tax, customs, and investment incentives.
The operation of KEK Arun is expected to be included in a new round of Aceh's economy. After the era of oil, from the 1980s to three decades later, the economy of Aceh is currently declining. Until prior to the 2004 tsunami, the oil and gas sector still accounted for about 40 percent of the Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP).
In 2015, with increasingly depleting oil and gas inventories, this sector contributed to only about 4 percent. The agriculture, forestry, and fishery sectors, which currently are the main contributors to GDP, namely about 30 percent, grow at a slow pace with low added value (BPS Aceh, 2006, and 2016).
Therefore, Chairman of the Aceh Post-Graduates Student Association (IMPAS) Heri Mauliza revealed that the Arun Lhokseumawe KEK must be optimized to provide benefits to the Aceh people. "Real steps are needed to maximize the utilization of the Arun Lhokseumawe KEK for future generations of Aceh," Mauliza stated at the Focus Group Discussion last month.
He remarked that the impact of the development of the Arun Lhokseumawe KEK will sooner or later be certainly felt both positively and negatively.
In his directives at the Limited Meeting dated August 7, 2015, President Joko Widodo reinforced the Government's stance by instructing the state-owned enterprises to help the oil and gas sufficiency in the area of Arun Lhokseumawe KEK and invite the Government of Aceh to seek investors in the development of Arun Lhokseumawe KEK Area.
Supposedly, based on Widodo's instruction, Aceh has become the proposer of the Arun KEK so that it can manage the area to improve the welfare of the people of Aceh.
By becoming a KEK manager, the Aceh Regional government is entitled to have a majority stake in the Management Agency of Arun Lhokseumawe KEK.***3***(A014/INE)
EDITED BY INE/H-YH(T.A014/A/BESSR/A/Yosep) 08-07-2017 17:12: |
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