Empowering Local Communities, Indonesia's Weda Bay Industrial Estate Will Absorb 10,400 Workers By The End Of This Year

IWIP Corporate CSR Novri Julfiansyah. (Photo: VOI/Mary Handayani)

JAKARTA - PT Indonesia Weda Bay Industrial Park (IWIP) continues to be committed to empowering local workers to improve community welfare. For this reason, IWIP will absorb 10,400 local workers this year.

IWIP is an integrated industrial area for heavy metal processing located in Lelief, Weda, Central Halmahera, North Maluku. The infrastructure built is in the form of a nickel smelter, a hydrometallurgical plant, accommodation and the provision of industrial facilities.

Corporate CSR IWIP Novri Julfiansyah said that his party is targeting to absorb 32,000 workers by the end of this year. The absorption of the workforce has been carried out since 2018. Novri said the absorption of local workers comes from the area around the mine. Mainly in three areas, namely East Halmahera, Ugara Halmahera and North Maluku Province.

"Local workers have absorbed 90 percent more than (target) local workers (32,000), foreigners only have 200 movements per year. From local people. From the target of 10,400 (this year), currently almost 8,000 have been absorbed from the total target. ," he said at a media gathering, Thursday, June 9.

Of the 32,000 targets set, said Novri, the realization until the first quarter of 2022 was 28,000 people. Of this figure, 1,800 are foreign workers.

"The absorption of the national workforce has reached 28,000 people (out of 32,000) and we project that we will increase the total to 29,800," he explained.

In addition to empowering the surrounding community, IWIP has also invested US$15 billion in the area. Where when Indonesia experienced an economic contraction due to the COVID-19 pandemic, North Maluku's Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) recorded positive growth.

"The growth of the processing industry is 5.47 percent. This makes the GRDP of North Maluku Province the largest in Indonesia with a value of 9.48 percent in the fourth quarter of 2020," he explained.

Novri said, his party is also building infrastructure in the form of mosques and churches in the area surrounding the mine. This includes building expansion of roads in a number of areas.

"For now, the village road infrastructure section, Sawai, Wibulan and Gemaf villages are also one of the villages around the mine that we have. Currently, more than 2 km of roads (from 7.2 km) have been built in total," he said.