Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Ministry of Industry set the investment target for the industrial sector at Rp307 trillion to Rp351 trillion by the end of 2020, a figure greater than the projected investment in 2019 of Rp188.8 trillion to Rp204.6 trillion.

"It certainly needs to be supported by the completion of investment constraints and the certainty of trying to trim regulations through the draft of the omnibus law which is currently being discussed by the government," Minister of Industry, Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita, said in Jakarta on Monday.

As investment in the industrial sector increases, the minister noted, the trend of labor absorption also continues to grow.

This was seen in the period of 2015 to August 2019, where the number of workers in the industrial sector had reached 18.93 million people.

Meanwhile, in 2020, the number of workers in the industrial sector is estimated at 19.59-19.66 million people.

"The industrial era 4.0, which brought changes to the digital-based economy, will be able to absorb a lot of new workers, especially utilizing the demographic bonus that is being experienced by Indonesia until the year 2030," he explained.

To facilitate investment coming into the country, the Government continues to prioritize the spread of industries outside Java, one of which is through the development of priority industrial areas.

In 2020-2024, there are 27 priority industrial areas which are planned, namely 14 on the island of Sumatra, six in Kalimantan, one in Madura, one in Java, three on the Sulawesi and Maluku Islands, one in Papua, and one in West Nusa Tenggara.

"The government is overseeing several investments from the large industrial sector from Taiwan and the United States, including CPC Corporation (Taiwan) in the petrochemical industry sector, LiteMax (Taiwan) in the electronics industry sector and Smart City, Taiwan Sugar Corp (Taiwan) in the sugar industry sector, and UNICAL (US) in the aerospace industry sector," he said.

The Ministry of Industry earlier created new breakthroughs in industrial development by issuing policies that can accelerate national industry development and attract investment, through the creation of the National Industrial Information System (SIINas) among others.

The effort is to support the government's priority program in preparing the Industrial era 4.0, which is in line with the direction of the road map of Making Indonesia 4.0. "We continue to simplify regulations and improve public services through SIINas," Minister of Industry, Airlangga Hartarto, said in a statement at Jakarta Wednesday.

The innovation and simplification in regulations have been carried out in stages by the ministry, the minister revealed.

The strategic step of the ministry is expected to attract more investments so that it can offer more jobs to Indonesians.

"Based on our data, there are already a number of manufacturers who will carry out expansion and relocation plans in Indonesia. They are the transportation, electronics, petrochemical, and oleochemical sectors," the minister said.

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Translator: Sella Panduarsa, Azis Kurmala
Editor: Sri Haryati
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