The Star 28 Jan 10;
BALIKPAPAN (East Kaliman-tan): Kalimantan offers vast potential for Malaysian investors to venture into oil palm plantation.
PT Dermaga Perkasapratama operations director Leong Kim Wah, who is from Kuala Lumpur, said there were vast tracts of land suitable for oil palm plantation in Kalimantan.
“Those who are keen should liaise directly with the district officer or mayor, and the governor,” he told a group of businessman from Sabah led by former Sabah chief minister Harris Salleh on a 10-day tour of Kalimantan.
The trip sponsored by Berjaya Foundation was to look into the investment potential in the Indonesian province.
On Pt Dermaga Perkasapratama, a subsidiary of the Bayan Group, Leong said the company had been in East Kalimantan since the 1980s and was involved in infrastructure construction for the oil and gas industry.
He said the company ventured into coal mining in 1974.
“Last year, it produced 10 million tonnes of coal and exported it to Asian countries, including Malaysia, and Europe,” he added.
Leong said the company, which had its head office in Jakarta, produced up to 11 million tonnes of coal a year from six mines in Balikpapan. — Bernama
