UAE to develop $500 million tourism resort in Indonesia’s Aceh

JAKARTA: The United Arab Emirates will develop several large infrastructure projects in Indonesia, including a multi-million dollar tourist resort in the westernmost province of Aceh. This has been confirmed by the best ministers of the Emirates and Indonesia.

The two nations signed a series of business agreements during a visit to Jakarta by the United Arab Emirates’ energy and infrastructure minister, Suhail Al-Mazroui, on Friday. The agreements are part of a $ 22.9 billion deal signed during Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s visit to Abu Dhabi in January last year. The investment agreement, which also covers energy, infrastructure and mining, is considered to be the largest in Indonesia’s history.

The project to develop a tourism resort, which, according to Indonesia’s Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment, Luhut Pandjaitan, is valued at between US $ 300 million and US $ 500 million, is slated to begin in Aceh Singkil district in May.

Aceh, a semi-autonomous province on the northwest tip of the island of Sumatra, is the only Muslim-majority region in Indonesia to impose Sharia law.

“I think within two months we can see the progress of this project in the Singkil region,” said Pandjaitan during a joint conference with Al-Mazroui.

While authorities have failed to provide details, when asked by Arab News, Al-Mazroui responded that some islands off the main Aceh coast had been identified for the resort.

“Hopefully the team will finish (it) and then we will move on to the next stage where we have some final arrangements,” he said.

The project agreement was signed by Aceh Governor Nova Iriansyah and Amine Abide, Executive Director of Murban Energy, a UAE company whose investment portfolio includes luxury resort development in the Maldives and Seychelles.

One of the considerations for developing the project in Aceh is that it is only a five-hour flight from the United Arab Emirates, according to a statement by the Indonesian Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, Husin Bagis. He said Abide visited nine islands in Aceh Singkil district that were shortlisted for the project.

The agreements signed in Jakarta, which Al-Mazroui said are a follow-up to the agreements signed in Abu Dhabi last year, include a $ 1.2 billion deal between logistics company Dubai Port (DP) World the United Arab Emirates and the Indonesian Maspion Group to develop a port and industrial area in Gresik, East Java.

Other contracts signed on Friday, Panjaitan said, included an agreement between Indonesia’s state arms manufacturer Pindad and UAE small arms manufacturer Caracal to develop assault rifles, drones and defense systems technology.

LuLu Group International is also expected to enter the Southeast Asian country as its president signed a lease to open a hypermarket on the outskirts of Jakarta on Friday.

Minister Al-Mazroui indicated that other deals could possibly follow as economic ties re-established between the United Arab Emirates and Indonesia.

“There were some new deals being considered that weren’t discussed before, and that’s the nature of the relationship,” he said.

Al-Mazroui is the first senior UAE government official to visit Indonesia since signing a bilateral agreement on safe travel corridors last July.

He and members of his delegation are in Indonesia to attend a series of events during the Indonesian-Emirati Amazing Week, which will take place March 1-8 in Jakarta, Solo, Bandung and Surabaya.