As two important Belt and Road partner countries, China and Indonesia maintain a close partnership and jointly address the challenges faced by the latter, the world's biggest island country and the fourth most populous country, including its connectivity issues and industrial development.
In this episode, GDToday and Metro TV journalists experienced the iconic Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway (HSR), the first HSR in Southeast Asia, and visited the Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP), a joint venture between the Indonesian mining company Bintang Delapan Group and the Chinese firm Tsingshan Holding Group.
"My team and I are happy about the successful commercial operation of the Jakarta-Bandung HSR. However, we consider it as a new phase with new challenges and requirements in a long-term perspective," said Zhang Chao, Executive Director of the Board and a founding member of PT Kereta Cepat Indonesia-China. The company is now continuing to improve the HSR facilities based on passenger feedback and is dedicated to the training of local staff.
Located in Central Sulawesi, the IMIP area was once a small village with about 3,000 residents. Over the past decade, it has been developed into one of the largest nickel-based industrial areas with more than 90,000 employees. The companies in IMIP have also helped develop neighbourhood facilities, such as electricity supply, schools, hospitals, roads, ports, and airports.
Thus far, 53 companies have settled in the IMIP with investments from around the world, two of which are invested in by Guangdong companies, Guang Ching Nickel & Stainless Steel Industry (GCNS) and QMB New Energy Materials. The two companies have applied new technologies from the tech hub of China to local factories and have helped modernize manufacturing facilities. Professional training, language courses, leisure facilities, and dormitories are also provided near the companies.
"We conduct experiments related to production based on the research of Chinese professors. My job is interesting because we use environmentally-friendly technology to extract low-grade lateritic nickel ore, which can be adopted in promising industries such as batteries and electric vehicles," said Muhammad Reza Fahlevi, Engineer of QMB R&D Center. Graduated from a university in Makassar, Reza is happy about his job and hopes to grow with the company and be promoted step by step.
According to GCNS and QMB, their goal is to have more local employees in management positions and to further localize their companies in the future. The competition for positions is intense as the average salary of entry-level employees is higher than that in Jakarta, while the pay will be even higher for management positions.
About the Guangdong on the Road series
As 2023 marks the 10th anniversary of the BRI, GDToday, the leading Guangdong-based multilingual news provider, has recently joined hands with major media outlets in 10 countries and visited the United Arab Emirates, Laos, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Nigeria, South Africa, Greece, Fiji, and Vanuatu, reporting on the Guangdong on the Road series.
The series report will include multilingual videos and articles, documenting the cooperation between Guangdong, the economic powerhouse of China, and the BRI participating countries.
Related news:
Guangdong on the Road | Singapore, forerunner of hi-tech cooperation
Guangdong on the Road | The UAE, gulf transit point, looks to the east
Guangdong on the Road | Greece: a symphony of maritime exchange
Guangdong on the Road | Angels that give sight in Fiji
Guangdong on the Road | Dream helpers from thousands of miles away
Guangdong on the Road | The Laos, on the track of transformation
Guangdong on the Road | Thailand: green engines in the silk road
Guangdong on the Road | Nigeria: "The mode of Guangdong" in Africa's largest economy
Producer | Hou Xiaojun
Executive producers | Jin Qiang, Zhang Chunqing
Chief planner | Zhao Yang
Planners | Xie Miaofeng, Zhang Ying, Ouyang Yan
Reporters | Yin Juewen, Zhang Qida, Xu Xiaoxin, Zhang Tianxiong
Graphic designers | Ou Xiaoming, Lai Meiya
Zhou Hongdou also contributed to the report.
