Government Builds Digital Industrial Zone Ala Silicon Valley In Batam, Coordinating Minister Airlangga: Save IDR 30 Trillion

JAKARTA - The government, through the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs, is pushing the construction of a data center development center and digital industry in the Special Economic Zone (KEK) Nongsa Digital Park, Batam.

Coordinating Minister for the Economy Airlangga Hartarto said the KEK Nongsa Digital Park was expected to become an international information technology company from Singapore and abroad.

"The government hopes that this will save the country's foreign exchange in digital business up to Rp 20 trillion - Rp 30 trillion per year with the largest contribution from the data center and international education sector," he said as quoted from the official website, Tuesday, March 16.

In order to realize this strategic plan, the government is said to be Airlangga and will partner with Singapore as the main partner in the early stages of development.

"We will collaborate with Singapore through collaborative training to improve the competence of human resources based on information technology," he said.

For information, bilateral relations between the two countries are considered to be getting closer in the current pandemic era.

This is evidenced by the increase in Singapore's investment in Indonesia in 2020, which has increased by 34 percent annually to US $ 9.8 billion.

"Singapore's investment last year reached a record high in the last six years and this shows the very good relationship between the two countries," he said.

It is hoped that the 'digital bridge' of Indonesia and Singapore can be realized with Batam as the center for the development of the data center and digital industry in Indonesia.

To note, many countries in the world are now keen to develop integrated areas that focus on working on the information technology industry segment. Several countries that already have digital industrial estates include the United States (US) with Silicon Valley and India with Bangalore. Meanwhile, the Special (KEK) Nongsa Digital Park was inaugurated on March 2, 2021.

Apart from developing digital industrial estates, the government also continues to strengthen the supporting infrastructure network in Batam. Most recently, the state has allocated a budget for the construction of the Batam - Bintan bridge or the 6.4 km Babin bridge in 2022.

Later, this bridge will make it easier for businesses in Bintan to send their agricultural products to Batam for export to Singapore or other countries.

"The construction of the Batam-Bintan bridge is expected to increase connectivity from Bintan and Batam to Singapore and vice versa," said the Coordinating Minister for Airlangga.