JAKARTA: UAE to develop several major infrastructure projects in Indonesia, including a multi-million dollar tourist center in the westernmost province of Aceh, prime ministers of Emirati and Indonesia confirmed.
A series of business deals were signed with the two countries during the Jakarta visit of UAE Minister for Energy and Infrastructure Suhail Al-Mazroui on Friday. The agreements are part of a $ 22.9 billion deal signed during Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s Abu Dhabi visit in January last year. The investment contract, which also covers energy, infrastructure and mining, is seen as the biggest thing in Indonesia’s history.
The resort development project, according to Indonesia’s Minister of Marine Affairs and Investment Coordination Luhut Pandjaitan, is expected to start between $ 300 million and $ 500 million, in the Aceh Singkil region in May.
Aceh, a semi-independent region on the northwestern part of Sumatra Island, is the only Muslim-majority area in Indonesia that dominates Shariah.
“I think that within two months, we will see the progress of this project in the Singkil region,” Pandjaitan said at a conference with Al-Mazroui.
Although authorities did not provide further details, in response to a question by Arab News, Al-Mazroui said that some islands off the main coast of Aceh have been identified for the resort.
“We hope the team will finish (e) and then we will move on to the next step with definitive agreements,” he said.
The project agreement was signed with Governor Aceh Nova Iriansyah and Amine Abide, executive director of Murban Energy, a UAE company whose investment package includes the development of luxury resorts in the Maldives and Seychelles.
According to a statement by the Indonesian Ambassador to the UAE, Husin Bagis, one of the considerations for developing the project in Aceh is that it is only five hours from the UAE by plane. He said Abide had visited nine islands in the Aceh Singkil area that were shortlisted for the project.
Among the agreements entered into in Jakarta, Al-Mazroui said that follow on from those signed in Abu Dhabi last year, is a $ 1.2 billion contract between a logistics company UAE Dubai Port (DP) World and Indonesia Maspion group to develop port and the. industrial zone in Gresik, East Java.
Other contracts signed on Friday, Panjaitan said, included an agreement between Indonesian state weapons maker Pindad and small arms manufacturer UAE Caracal to develop assault rifles, drones and defense system technologies.
LuLu Group International is expected to enter Southeast Asia, as its presidential director signed a property lease agreement Friday to open a hypermarket on the outskirts of Jakarta.
Minister Al-Mazroui said other agreements could follow the new economic ties created between the UAE and Indonesia.
“Some new contracts have been considered, which have not been discussed before, and this is the nature of the relationship,” he said.
Al-Mazroui is the first senior government official from the UAE to visit Indonesia since a bilateral safe travel corridor agreement was signed in July last year.
He and members of his delegation are in Indonesia to attend a series of events at the amazing Indonesia-Emirati Week, held in Jakarta, Solo, Bandung and Surabaya on March 1-8.