"Currently, ships are not subjected to import duties."Jakarta, Dec 26 (ANTARA) - The Ministry of Industry is keen on developing the national shipbuilding industry by introducing an incentive in the form of government-paid import duties (BMDTP), particularly for the raw materials of ships.
"Currently, ships are not subjected to import duties, while the raw materials of ships are subjected to import duties," said the Secretary-General of the Industry Ministry, Anshari Bukhari, on Wednesday.
According to Bukhari, in an attempt to develop the national shipbuilding industry, the Ministry is keen on introducing this incentive in 2013, especially for raw materials of ships that cannot be produced domestically.
"We are optimistic that the BMDTP will increase investments in the country and boost the growth of the shipbuilding industry. Besides, the upstream shipbuilding industry requires more investments," he explained.
Meanwhile, Indonesia`s Minister for Industry, MS Hidayat, said the number of national shipbuilding firms has reached 250. The firms are able to produce ships of 700,000 deadweight tonnage (dwt) and graving docks of up to 10,000,000 dwt.
"However, the national shipbuilding industry can only produce ships of 50,000 dwt and graving docks of up to 150,000 dwt. We believe that the industry can become more competitive," said Hidayat.
The Minister said the shipbuilding industry in the country is expected to construct ships with a capacity of 85,000 dwt by 2015.
"If we can meet the domestic requirements with regard to the components of ships, we will be able to boost the growth of the national shipbuilding industry," he said.
(U.Y012/INE/KR-BSR/B003)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
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