SEMARANG — Ahead of today’s official opening of Kendal Industrial Park in Semarang, the first major industrial investment by a Singapore company outside Batam, the Indonesian authorities expressed their hope for more investments and jobs in Central Java upon the project’s completion.

The 2,700ha park is jointly developed by Singapore’s Sembcorp Development and Indonesia’s PT Kawasan Industri Jababeka as an alternative manufacturing location to absorb the spillover of manufacturing activity from Jakarta.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Indonesian President Joko Widodo are expected to officially open the industrial park this afternoon.

Mr Lee arrived in Semarang yesterday to attend the Singapore-Indonesia Leaders’ Retreat with Mr Widodo, the first such retreat with the latter, who took office in 2014.

At a press conference in Puri Gedeh, Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo’s official residence in Semarang, Mr Pranowo said he hopes the accelerated process of approving business licences in Indonesia will attract more Singaporean and foreign investors. He was referring to the launch last year of a three-hour licensing service by the Indonesia Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM), for certain investors who plan to set up businesses in Indonesia.

Indonesian Minister for Industry Airlangga Hartarto also noted that the Indonesian authorities are trying to develop the Central Java area, targeting the automotive as well as food and beverage industries.

The Indonesian authorities are placing attention on developing manpower in the area.

He added, for instance, that vocational schools in Semarang can help provide training to meet the demands at the industrial park.

Sembcorp chief executive officer Kelvin Teo said the Kendal Industrial Park is set to be the “economic engine” for drawing investments and creating jobs in the Central Java region.

At present, 20 firms from Singapore, Indonesia, Japan and Australia have invested US$330 million (S$466 million) in the park, which is expected to employ about 4,000 workers. The first phase of construction, which covers 860ha — about the size of Punggol town — is expected to be ready within the next five years and can accommodate some 100,000 workers.

Speaking to the media after the press conference, Mr Teo said the park will be a platform for Singaporean firms to share their experience in urbanisation. Singaporean firms take up about 10 per cent of the 13 industrial parks Sembcorp owns in China, Vietnam and Indonesia.

The company is not new to Indonesia, having worked on an industrial park project in Batam earlier.

Mr Teo added that the Indonesian authorities, to attract more Singaporean and foreign investors, have opened up more sectors to foreign firms and improved its licensing services as well as various infrastructure, such as the ports, rail system and airports.

During the Leaders’ Retreat today, Mr Lee and Mr Widodo will review progress in bilateral relations, explore ways to deepen cooperation as well as exchange views on regional and international developments. They will also witness the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on tourism cooperation between Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry and Indonesia’s Ministry of Tourism, as well as several other MOUs.

Mr Lee will be accompanied by his wife and several Cabinet ministers, including Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean, Trade and Industry Ministers Lim Hng Kiang and S Iswaran, Communications and Information Minister Yaacob Ibrahim, Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen, Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan and Education Minister (Higher Education and Skills) Ong Ye Kung.