INVITE FOR M'SIAN INVESTORS TO OPEN RUBBER, OIL PALM ESTATES IN KALIMANTAN

From Nashir Mansor

BANJARMASIN (South Kalimantan), Jan 25 (Bernama) -- South Kalimantan
Governor Rudy Ariffin has invited Malaysian investors to invest in the
plantation sector,
particularly in the opening of rubber and oil palm estates,
in the Kalimantan province.

He said there were ample opportunities for Malaysian investors to
participate
in the programme given the vast tracts of idle land that could be turned into
rubber and oil palm estates.

The provincial government had allocated 30 per cent of the land area for
plantations and farms, he said.

"We prefer investors to come in to invest in the plantation sector as the
move
will not only guarantee us a steady long-term revenue but also provide jobs for
the 3.8 million people in south Kalimantan," he told a Malaysian delegation of
journalists and businessmen from Sabah led by former Sabah Chief Minister Harris
Salleh who are on a 10-day visit to Kalimantan.

The visit, sponsored by Berjaya Foundation and coordinated by the Indonesian
Consulate in Kota Kinabalu, is to explore investment prospects in Kalimantan and
to forge closer bilateral ties between Malaysia and Indonesia.

So far seven Malaysian companies had invested in various economic sectors
in south Kalimantan particularly in plantations and coal mining.

Rudy said the provincial government welcomed foreign investors to complement
the Federal Government's pro-business, pro-growth and pro-employment policy.

He said that more than 80 per cent of the province were accessible by road
while the power supply woes are being earnestly addressed by the government.

South Kalimantan recorded 5.6 per cent economic growth last year, surpassing
the 4.3 per cent national growth. The province's poverty rate is 5.13 per cent,
second lowest in the entire Kalimantan province after East Kalimantan.

Asked on Indonesians working in Malaysia's plantation sector, Rudy said that
probably the wages in south Kalimantan were higher than what they received in
Sabah.

"Many Indonesians now realise that it's better to work in the own country as
the salary is more or less the same or if not better and furthermore they don't
need to pay the foreign workers' levy," he said.

Nevertheless, thousands of Indonesians were still working in Malaysia, he
added.

-- BERNAMA



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