Given its strategic assets across the archipelago, state-owned ship operator PT Pelayaran Nasional Indonesia (Pelni) is one of underutilized SOEs. Pretty much like the state postal services PT Pos Indonesia, PELNI’s land and buildings are in strategic locations of major cities like Jakarta, Surabaya, Semarang, Denpasar, Makassar etc.

One of the challenges for President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo’s second term is addressing the trade imbalances with China. In the first nine months of 2019, trade deficit (non oil and gas sector) with China inched up 0.3% to nearly US$14 billion. The overall trade deficit might be smaller because Indonesia exporting substantial volume of natural gas to China, but the government shall seriously address the issue.

Indonesia suffered trade deficit of US$160.5 million in September 2019 against surplus of US$112 million in August. The country, accordingly, booked trade deficit of US$1.95 billion in the first nine months of 2019, fell sharply by 49% from the corresponding period last year. This was mainly attributable to 32% fall of deficit in oil and gas sector. While export revenues from non oil and gas products declined by 6.2%, export volume actually increased significantly by nearly 10% in the first nine months of 2019.

Airport services company PT Cardig Aero Services Tbk (CASS) is a small company with market capitalization of Rp1.3 trillion only. The group, however, is poised to grow further with its decision to become airport operator. Final decision yet to be formally announced by the government, but signals have been sent out recently.

President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo is scheduled to inaugurate the Palapa Ring, the largest publlic-private partnership Internet connectivity project in the country, this afternoon. Palapa Ring develops fiber optic network covering 34 provinces and 440 regencies/mayoralties through 35,280 KM of undersea cable and 21,807 KM of land cables.

The government, through state railway operator PT Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI), has recently made payment of Rp1.4 trillion for works committed by state EPC firm Adhi Karya (ADHI) in the Greater Jakarta light-rail transit (LRT) for the period of October 2018 to March 2019. That means the government has made a total payment of Rp8.3 trillion for the project.

President Joko Widodo must be very upset with downfall of Indonesia’s competitiveness ranking this year just ahead of inauguration for a second term. Still, some global and domestic investors continue their expansion, mostly to tap the growing household consumption and incentives in processing of natural resources.

Development of Nongsa Digital Park in Batam Island was another topic of discussion in recent meeting of President Joko Widodo and Singapore PM Lee Hsien Loong. The park is set to become center for creative industry players such as startups, web, applications, digital programming, film, and animation.

Kendal Industrial Park (KIP) in Kendal Regency, Central Java province was among Indonesia-Singapore partnerships discussed on Tuesday’s meeting between President Joko Widodo and Singapore PM Lee Hsien Loong in Singapore. KIP is a joint venture between SembCorp (49%) and Kawasan Industri Jababeka (KIJA), which plans to develop a total area of 2,700 hectares. Progress?

On July 15, 2017, Ketapang Regency administration’s official website published an article about a plan from Chinese investor to develop an industrial estate with estimated investment of Rp4.5 trillion (slightly above US$300 million) in the regency, which is located in West Kalimantan province.