Jakarta. Indonesia is now closer to booking another deal with China related to a photovoltaic (PV) glass project in North Kalimantan. 

Chief Investment Affairs Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan wrote in a recent Instagram update that China will invest “between $3.5 billion and $4 billion” in the project.

North Kalimantan appears to be popular among major Chinese investors. 

Earlier this year, Luhut revealed that China would make a huge investment in a petrochemical plant in the province, while also skipping the name of the interested company. However, Reuters reported last April that polyester fiber producers Tongkun Group and Xingfeming Group were waiting for the Chinese government’s nod to build a refinery and petrochemical complex worth $10 billion in North Kalimantan.

North Kalimantan is also home to what President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo claimed to be the “world’s largest green industrial park”. The 13,000-kilometer-wide Kalimantan Industrial Park (KIPI) will have production plants for industries such as electric vehicle batteries, aluminum, and petrochemicals, according to Jokowi during his visit to the industrial park’s construction site last year.

China is Indonesia’s second-largest source of foreign direct investment (FDI). Government statistics show that Indonesia registered $7.4 billion of Chinese FDI throughout 2023.