Indonesia Investments' News Columns section contains articles with a detailed analysis regarding topics that have high news value in Indonesia and can be regarded as topics that are capable of influencing Indonesia's investment climate. Most columns published in this section cover subjects related to politics, economics and social matters. By following these publications on a regular basis, one will be apprised of what is happening in Indonesia and - just as important - understand why it is happening.
Today, Indonesian private airline Lion Mentari Airlines (Lion Air) ordered a record-breaking 234 airplanes from France-based Airbus for a combined price of €18.4 billion (US $24 billion). This mega-purchase marks the aggressive expansion drift of the Indonesian low-cost airline. In November 2011, the company had already ordered 230 aircrafts from (Airbus competitor) Boeing for the combined price of USD $21.7 billion.
Last Thursday night, a Nigerian drug dealer, imprisoned since 2004, was executed by firing squad near Kepulauan Seribu to the north of Jakarta's coast. This execution is the first since the execution of three Islamic radicals (who were involved in the 2002 Bali bombings) in 2008. Meanwhile, on Friday morning, counter-terrorism squad Densus 88 killed three suspected Muslim militants that robbed a jewelry store in Tambora, West Jakarta.
Indocement Tunggal Prakarsa (INTP), Indonesia's second-largest cement producer, is planning to invest between US $260 and $320 for the establishment of three new cement factories. One of these factories - with a production capacity of 4.4 million ton per year - will be built on brownfield land (in Citeureup, West Java), while the other two will be built on greenfield land and will have a combined production capacity of about five million ton annually.
The number of air passengers in Indonesia has increased significantly during the last decade, and turned the country in one of the fastest-growing air travel industries worldwide. Blessed with robust macro economic growth and a subsequent burgeoning middle class, Indonesians are increasingly using airplanes as means of transportation. It is estimated that in 2012 about 72.5 million people used air transport in Indonesia, a ten percent year-on-year increase.
