According to Franky Sibarani, Head of the Indonesia Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM), around 200 Chinese furniture companies have expressed their interest to relocate their factories to Indonesia because operational costs in China have been rising sharply in recent years, particularly wages. Moreover, rattan (an important material for furniture) is readily available in Indonesia. Sibarani said the changing structure of the Chinese economy (shifting from investment and export-driven to consumption) is why many Chinese manufacturing companies want to relocate their companies abroad.

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Malaysia-based coffee producer Classic Worldwide International Group (CWIG) will soon start operations at its coffee factory in Indonesia. The factory, located in Banten (West Java), is expected to be ready for production at the end of the second quarter this year with a designed production capacity of 500,000 boxes of coffee per month. Output will be branded Kopi Pak Belalang. The management of CWIG said the plant will require about 100-150 local workers. Besides supplying the domestic market, output will also be exported to Malaysia.

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In its bid to enhance connectivity across the Indonesian archipelago, the government of Indonesia is eager to boost toll road development. Enhanced connectivity is key to curtail the nation's high logistics costs hence improving the competitiveness of domestic businesses while also making the investment climate more attractive. Besides business interests, enhanced infrastructure development is also important from a social point of view (for example, people's access to healthcare is improved). In this column we take a look at the developments of the Balikpapan-Samarinda toll road on the island of Kalimantan.

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Netherlands-based leading dredging and marine expert Boskalis won a contract from Indonesia-based Ciputra Yasmin for the development of a land reclamation project off the coast of Makassar (South Sulawesi). Reportedly the contract is worth 80 million euro. Boskalis will develop five artificial islands offshore. These islands are part of the 'Centre Point of Indonesia' project which aims at creating quality land (through reclamation) and use this land for commercial and residential purposes. Activities are scheduled to start in the second quarter of the year. It will require two years to complete the project.

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