Industrial construction increasing in Indonesia
Published on 26/08/2015
The growing population of Indonesia - already the fourth-largest populace in the world - has led to increasing demand for industry in the region. This is both to supply Indonesia with manufactured goods and provide employment for its citizens. Several recent announcements have shown that this is continuing to grow, as a number of prominent companies are beginning projects in the area.
Coca-Cola is one example. One of the world's largest companies, the firm is building a new plant in East Java. SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile Corp Ltd (SGMW), a conglomerate of some of the world's biggest auto businesses, has just begun construction of its own facility in Indonesia.
Furthermore, building materials companies are growing as a result of this increased activity. One such example can be seen in the case of LafargeHolcim, which has just completed construction of a cement plant in East Java. This is a clear sign of the growth that Indonesia is experiencing in its building materials industry.
Coca-Cola's new plant
The new facility that is being built by PT Coca-Cola Amatil Indonesia - which is a subsidiary of Australia's Coca-Cola Amatil Ltd - will expand the company's current bottling plant, the Pandaan Plant and Distribution Center. This building already produces almost a third (30 per cent) of Coca-Cola bottles in Indonesia, and the new project will increase this drastically.
Once completed, the new structure - which is estimated to cost around $63 million - will allow the plant to increase its capacity to 885,860 bottles per hour. Coca-Cola aims to invest $500 million in Indonesia over the next four years, and is also planning to construct a 'mega distribution centre' near to Pandaan that will have the capacity to store 1.4 million crates.
Kadir Gunduz, president director of Coca-Cola Amatil Indonesia, said at the new plant's groundbreaking: "The development is aimed at accelerating the company’s business growth. Pandaan is one of the key locations for the Indonesian business to reach out to the eastern part of Indonesia."
SGMW building a factory
The automobile conglomerate SGMW - a Chinese joint venture of SAIC Motor Corporation, General Motors Co. and Wuling Motors Holdings Ltd - is constructing its first facility outside China. The new plant will be located around 70 km east of Jakarta, and will cost roughly $700 million to construct.
The decision was made to move into Indonesia due to the nation's growing economy. SGMW's vice-president Yuan Zijhun said that the growing country had a "large market for cars", making it a good location for the conglomerate's first foray outside China.
The factory will be around 600,000 sqm in size, and produce up to 150,000 units per year. The main assembly line is scheduled to be complete and functioning by 2017. After this, a spare parts-manufacturing facility will also be constructed.
Cement plant completed
Anticipating this growth in Indonesia's industrial construction industry, LafargeHolcim has just completed a new cement facility. The Tuban plant in East Java - about 200 km from Surabaya - has an annual cement capacity of 3.4 million tonnes. It is located on the coast, and there are plans to ship the cement around Indonesia as more construction projects arise.
This is a clear sign that the construction materials industry in this country is growing rapidly. With more and more major international firms investing in Indonesia, there is space for both large companies and smaller enterprises to make a profit working with the building industry here.