"Hopefully in September this year East Belitung Geopark will be on the UGG list," the Head of Kelapa Kampit Sub-district Administration, Yuspian, said in East Belitung, on Wednesday.
He added that East Belitung Geopark is different from other areas in the district as it has a combination of biological, geological, and cultural aspects.
"If it is approved by UNESCO, East Belitung Geopark will be Indonesia`s third UGG," he said.
Yuspian explained that the geological sites in East Belitung are quite large, including open pits, Keran Island, mangroves, and Mount Lumut.
On its website UNESCO defines Global Geoparks are single, unified geographical areas where sites and landscapes of international geological significance are managed with a holistic concept of protection, education and sustainable development. Their bottom-up approach of combining conservation with sustainable development while engaging local communities is becoming increasingly popular.
At present, there are 127 UNESCO Global Geoparks in 35 countries, including two areas in Indonesia, namely, Batur in Bali and Gunung (Mount) Sewu in the Southern Mountains of East Java.
Batur UNESCO Global Geopark covers an area of 370.5 square kilometers. It has outer-caldera wall which surrounds the inner-caldera wall, Mt. Batur and the lake. Meanwhile, Gunung Sewu which extends east-west along 120 kilometers is a depression zone occupied by Merapi and Lawu active volcanoes. ( antara )
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March
The administration of East Belitung District, Province of Bangka Belitung, has proposed a geopark in the area to be included in the UNESCO Global Geopark ( UGG ) list in order to enhance tourism development and increase the number of tourist visits.
March
The Executive Director of Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), Bambang Subiyanto, expressed hoped that the "Indonesia Science Expo" (ISE) 2018 could be known worldwide as an international science and technology exhibition. ISE 2018 has been held thrice, with the previous ones held in 2015 and 2017. ISE 2018 will feature some research results of Indonesian researchers.
"We had participants from abroad last year; hopefully, this year`s event will be more inspiring," he stated in the press release here on Wednesday.
The aim of this science fair is to echo the results of the research to make the public understand the significance and role of research, science and technology, and innovation for a better life in the future.
"We will invite LIPI partners from different countries to participate. Besides, there will also be a `Youth Science Fair,` which is usually for young participants," he noted.
People need to understand science and technology and also the research results. ISE 2018 is one of the means to spread science and technology and research results from Indonesian researchers and innovators. ISE 2018 is expected to not only provide an understanding on raising the community`s awareness of science and technology but also to provide useful outcomes for the community, especially young people. (antara)
March
Ease of Tax to Push Investment
Published in Editorial
The government of Indonesian is enthusiastically encouraging investment that is an important and supporting aspect of a country's economy. No wonder, it is attempting to increase both domestic and international investment. Therefore in addition to providing infrastructure, the government has also issued several economic policies since 2015. Until 2017, there have been sixteen volumes of policy packages; some of which are aimed at supporting and pushing investment.
In addition, the government through the Ministry of Finance is also finalizing four new regulations that will soon be ratified in coming weeks. The objective is to enhance investment as President Joko Widodo expressed in the target of economic growth in 2018. The four regulations are about tax holiday or tax incentives in the form of exemption of income tax, tax allowance or tax deduction; tax of small-medium enterprises -SMEs, and incentives for companies conducting research and development and vocation.
With its vast area, Indonesia does need a lot of capital to ensure all regions to get adequate fund for development. Besides, Indonesia is an archipelagic country, so development could be hampered due to access and mobility reasons. In fact, Indonesia has a wealth of nature and a very large potential. The strategic location between the two continents: Asia and Australia and the two oceans: India and the Pacific is also Indonesia's advantage in the international market. Therefore, the government is increasingly aware of the importance of foreign investment in the development of Indonesia. In addition to exploiting a large area, foreign investment may also bring about positive impacts on Indonesia.
The number of foreign investors coming and investing in Indonesia certainly cannot be separated from the attitude of the government in providing facilities and tax ease. How will foreign investors invest their capital in Indonesia, if the government imposes a burdensome tax system, especially if there is no adequate facility?
Even though foreign investment is needed to encourage and promote the Indonesian economy, it must be done in an orderly manner and in accordance with the investment regulations, instead of harming the country and the nation of Indonesia in the future.
March
PT Mass Rapid Transportation (MRT) Jakarta has discussed funding scheme with Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) for its future project. He said the AIIB officials had come to directly see the development of the current MRT project in Jakarta and at the same time also discuss funding scheme, tariffs and potential of MRT Jakarta non-fare box business.
"On Monday we received AIIB officials in Jakarta. We discussed several issues including funding scheme for next MRT development project," the company`s president director, William Sabandar, said in Jakarta on Tuesday.
He added the AIIB officials had come to directly see the development of the current MRT project in Jakarta and at the same time also discuss funding scheme, tariffs and potential of MRT Jakarta non-fare box business.
"There were at least four funding schemes found to be implementable. The first scheme is done through inter-government loans with equity investment from government funding," he said. The second is through commercial corporate financr in the form of asset-based corporate bonds or export credit agencies for imported components, he said. The third scheme is done through government-business entity partnership and the fourth through partnership between the government and budiness entities through initial public offering.
Sabandar said PT MRT Jakarta has been appointed as the sole operator of transit oriented development (TOD) area for the first and second phases of the MRT project.
"The presence of MRT is expected to be one of the solutions to deal with traffic congestion in line with a change in the lifestyle of residents who would change from private cars to public transportation system in addition to improving air quality," he said.
He further said until the end of February civil and architectural construction of the first phase of the project had reached 91.86 percent while two sets of MRT engines are expected to arrive in Jakarta on March 26. (antara)