EKBIS.CO, JAKARTA -- Minister of Tourism and Creative Economy Sandiaga Salahuddin Uno revealed that an Omani millionaire wants to develop a property project in the capital of the archipelago (IKN).

The investment interest was expressed when Sandiaga paid a working visit to Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE).

“One of the meetings also expressed the interest of one of the investors, a billionaire from Kerala, India, but he is of Omani nationality and grew his business in Dubai. He wants to develop existing property projects in Indonesia especially in IKN,” he said in The Weekly Brief with Sandi Uno in Jakarta, Wednesday (10/1/2024).

Sandi said that during his working visit to Dubai and Jeddah, the Ministry of Finance offered investment opportunities in more than 10 special economic zones (KEC) of the tourism and creative economy sectors, as well as five super priority tourism destinations (DPSP), as well as IKN.

According to Sandi, on that occasion many parties expressed their interest and interest in investing capital in the country, especially in IKN. However, he admitted his party was still calculating the potential value of the investment to be instilled.

“But in my opinion, this is an early stage roadshow and if indeed 2 million is the target population of IKN in the next few years, of course in these years it will require a massive investment,” he said.

The former Deputy Governor of DKI Jakarta believes that the future development of IKN requires a large investment. The government will only work on a maximum of 15-20 percent of the project, while the rest will be done with the private sector.

“This is where we invite big investors to aim for investment opportunities in IKN,” he said.

Sandi said President Jokowi has pioneered a number of projects in the parecraph sector, especially for accommodation in IKN, including the construction of the Nusantara Hotel by the Archipelago Consortium worth IDR 20 trillion on September 21, 2023. The project is targeted to be operational by August 2024. In addition, a number of hotel, resort and mall projects have also been started in 2023.

“Hopefully his August 2024 hotel will be able to start living,” he said.

Before the target, Sandi mentioned that glamping business opportunities were still open. The government is also developing tourist villages around IKN as residential alternatives while promoting environmental sustainability of local customs and wisdom.

Deputy for Social, Cultural and Community Empowerment of IKN Authority Alimuddin said that currently the progress of IKN's physical development as a whole has reached about 70 percent. As for the parecrafal sector, five five-star hotels are currently being built, including Hotel Nusantara, which is now progressing at 30 percent. There were also four-star hotels built at the same time.

“There are already 100 people we trained in hospitality as well,” he said.