Jakarta. President Prabowo Subianto is planning to establish a national industrial zone council, although details apart from the leadership structure remain scarce.

Tri Supondy, a senior official at the Industry Ministry, unveiled the plan at a parliamentary hearing on Monday.

According to Tri, Prabowo will be its chair, while Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka will be the deputy chief. Industry Minister Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita will lead the day-to-day matters. Members will come from the relevant ministries, government bodies, and other developments.

“This council will come up with policies meant to speed up the development in the industrial estates. They will also take care of problems that involve multiple [ministries],” Tri told the lawmakers’ meeting in Jakarta.

There will be a secretariat to be led by the Industry Ministry. Tri, however, did not provide a timeline for when Indonesia would form this council. When listing problems related to industrial estates, the government noted that having the jobs scattered across ministries has caused some setbacks.

“Licensing processes and infrastructure development are not quick enough because of this,” Tri said. 

According to the government estimates, Indonesia boasts 179 industrial estates, up by around 51.69% since 2020. Its development has also given jobs for 2.35 million people.  As many as 11,970 companies are operating in the region. However, the data showed that the land occupancy rate in the industrial estates is only 57.20%. The development also remains Java-centric.

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