Before Becoming The Pariwista Industrial Estate, Bintan Was The Largest Bauxite Producing Area In Indonesia

Bintan area (CHUTTERSNAP / Unsplash)

JAKARTA - The Indonesian Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy (Menparekraf) Sandiaga Uno will make a working visit to Bintan Regency, Riau Islands (Kepri). The visit will take place on January 22-23, 2021.

Apart from Bintan, another area in Riau Islands that Sandiaga will visit is Batam City. "Pak Menpar was in Riau Islands for two days. One day in Batam City and one day in Bintan Regency, ”said the Head of the Riau Islands Tourism Office, Buralimar, as reported by VOI from Antara, Thursday, January 21.

While in Bintan and Batam, Sandiaga will have a dialogue with tourism industry players. The agenda then continued with a review of a number of tourist locations such as the Lagoi area in Bintan and Nongsa in Batam.

Please note, Bintan Island is indeed very famous for its epic and spectacular tourist attractions. One of them is Lagoi Bay, which is a tourist icon in Bintan.

In this area, tourists are not only spoiled by the typical beautiful beach scenery, but also can enjoy various modern facilities such as luxury resorts. Therefore, it is not surprising that Bintan Island is visited by many domestic and foreign tourists.

Interestingly, before being famous for its tourist attraction, Bintan Island was once the largest bauxite (aluminum ore) producer in the country.

Source of bauxite

Launching the official website of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM), in 1924, the Netherlands discovered a very abundant source of bauxite on Bintan Island. Since then, Bintan has been known as a bauxite producing area.

The Dutch then mined bauxite for the first time in 1935. Meanwhile, the exploitation of aluminum ore was in Kijang and managed by a Dutch company, namely Naamloze Vennotschap Nederlandsch Indische Bauxit Exploitatie Maatschappije (NV NIBEM).

Bintan Island was also controlled by Japan during the Japanese occupation of Indonesia, around 1942-1945. The exploitation of bauxite in Bintan Island was then taken over by a Japanese-owned company, Furukawa Co. Ltd.

However, after Japan lost in World War II, the bauxite mine was again taken over by NV NIBEM.

In 1959, the bauxite mining area in Bintan fell to the Indonesian government, followed by the establishment of PT Pertambangan Bauxit Indonesia (Perbaki).

Perbaki was then merged into the Indonesian Bauxite Mining PN which was in the BPU Pertambun environment.

Then, in 1968, all those who were members of the aluminum ore mining entity were transferred to PN Aneka Tambang (Persero) - now PT Aneka Tambang (Antam).

PT Antam explored the bauxite mine until 2009. After Antam stopped mining, the state-owned mining company reclaimed the former bauxite mining area by making an inventory of the former mining areas.

Now, after mining activities have stopped, Bintan has been transformed into a tourism industrial area. Some of the famous tourist destinations in the area are Lagoi Bay, Senggiling Beach, Trikora Beach, Crystal Lagoon and so on.