Di Tangan Bupati Dico, Nilai Perekonomian Dan Investasi Kabupaten Kendal Meningkat

Kendal Regent, Dico Ganinduto. (Photo: Instagram @dicoganinduto)

JAKARTA - Economic observer from the Center of Reform on Economic (CORE) Yusuf Rendy Manilet appreciated the Regent of Dico Ganinduto for increasing the economic value of Kendal Regency, Central Java as a Special Economic Zone (KEK).

"Of course what the Regent has done should be appreciated, considering that the consolidation and coordination efforts between the central and regional governments are one of the crucial things in an effort to increase investment in Indonesia," Yusuf said in his statement, Monday, February 26.

Moreover, he said, Kendal Regency has a SEZ, so it requires the role of the Regional Government, such as providing land, separate incentives, especially for those who want to enter to invest in the Kendal SEZ.

"This is an important thing in improving the performance of the SEZ itself. What needs to be underlined is that the increase in investment in special economic zones is the cooperation of various stakeholders and the Kendal SEZ, one of which can then appear because the request for the provision of a SEZ is granted by the central government," he said.

Meanwhile, Yusuf said that on the other hand, Kendal Regency and its government also provide various incentives and other aspects that are important in increasing investment in the Kendal SEZ.

"We know that SEZs, especially those in terms of industry, for example, manufacturing has characteristics that can absorb a large number of workforces, so when there is an industrial SEZ it should be positive correlations with the decline in unemployment and absorption of the workforce in districts where the special economic zone is located," he continued.

Furthermore, he said that on the other hand, if you look at the manufacturing industry, it has characteristics where the wages offered are relatively higher than the business field sector in certain agriculture and plantations.

"So that with a higher wage, in the long term workers in the manufacturing industry sector are expected to improve their welfare," he said.

Furthermore, according to him, the increase in the minimum wage is also inseparable from the large number of people working in the manufacturing industry sector, because in aggregate the wage has increased due to changes in the work structure, which previously focused a lot on the agricultural sector and then moved to the manufacturing industry sector.

So according to him, what needs to be considered is how to maintain the performance and productivity of the workers who work in the Kendal SEZ.

"Ideally, companies in SEZs routinely carry out training efforts as well as skill improvements, so that in the long term wages that have experienced an increase can now also gradually increase again in the long term," said Yusuf.

He also considered that an important lesson from the success of the Kendal SEZ was one of the ways to coordinate between local and central governments in providing special economic zones.

"So what is done by the government led by the Regent can certainly be a model for other districts who want to establish special economic zones or who want to increase the capacity and performance of special economic zones that already exist," he said.

Yusuf also said that it is no less important to ensure whether an important infrastructure in supporting the development of SEZs is available in each area that owns and plans to have a SEZ.

It is known that the Indonesian government has designated Kendal as the new SEZ as of December 18, 2019 as stated in Government Regulation (PP) Number 85/2019.

KEK Kendal has a land area of 1,051.8 Ha located in Kaliwungu, Brangsong, Kendal and Patebon sub-districts, which are divided into three zones that run three functions, namely export processing, logistics zones and industrial zones.

With this SEZ, the absorption of labor in Kendal Regency has increased from 22,796 to 40,891. The increase occurred in line with Kendal Regency Minimum Wage (UMK) which was higher than in 2022, from Rp2,340,312 to Rp2,508,300 in 2023.

In fact, the provision of Tax Holiday and Tax Allowance facilities is offered by the Kendal Regency Government in accordance with the BKPM policy in the ease of investing in the Kendal SEZ. This also has an impact on the increase in business actors in the Kendal SEZ.

Thus, the ease of granting investment licensing in Kendal Regency can also make an impact on the increase in investment value to IDR 59.1 trillion and the export value of IDR 176,570,623, which shows an increase of 45 percent in investment over the period of 1 year.

Furthermore, in 2023 the Kendal SEZ has also succeeded in attracting investors, not only domestically but to foreign countries such as China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia and others, which produce 98 tenants ready to contribute to economic development in Kendal Regency.

In fact, the Ministry of Economy appreciates Kendal Regent Dico M Ganinduto because the achievements of the Kendal SEZ are the best among 20 SEZs in Indonesia.