Where is Batam ???

Batam island is strategically located in the hub of Southeast Asia. Being 20 km from Singapore with the second largest international shipping lane passing right by the shoreline, Batam is ideally positioned placing everything that could be needed for a successful business right at your doorstep.

Batam also offers attractive tax incentives with exemption from import/export tax, and Value Added Tax for export products oriented. Industrial facilities are abundantly available.

Investor are 17 industrial parks offering facilities ranging from ready-to-build pieces of land to buildings with complete facilities. Some industrial parks also offer a complete package, which includes the processing of permits and licenses with relevant authorities and recruitment of workers. Housing for workers in dormitories is also provided within the area. Workers are also readly available both from the local pool and from the rest of Indonesia. These workers are increasingly better skilled as they have years of training and experience.

Growth for the island with population of 591.253 in 2004 has demonstrated its capabilities to complete with other similar zones in the asia pacific. Batam has become one of the growth engines in Indonesia, providing employment for about 221.163 workers, contributing a substantial amount of income tax for the central goverment.

General Information Of Batam

Batam is one of the 3,000 islands, which make up the Riau Archipelago and is closest to Singapore, which is only 20 km away or twenty minutes by air-conditioned ferry. It has a rapid-growing population of around 100.000. As the island develops into a major industrial and tourist area, it attracts an ever-increasing population from other Indonesian islands who see Batam as a haven of opportunity. Once almost uninhabited, save for a few scattered fishing communities, Batam's history took a sharp turn beginning 1969, when it became support base for the State-owned 'Pertamina oil company' and its offshore oil exploration. In 1971 a presidential decree designated it as an industrial area and in 1975 the Batam Authority was formed. In 1978 Batam was established as a bonded area.

In addition to the oil support industries of Batu Ampar and a fast growing electronics industry, Batam now attracts increasing numbers of tourists. Many come from Singapore for a short holiday with friends and family, duty-free shopping and great seafood. The visitors to Singapore hope over for a day or weekend trip.

What is BATAM ???

Batam is one of the largest islands in the Riau archipelago, and not long ago it was just another poor island with coastal villages and unspoiled nature. The declaration of the Batam free trade zone in 1989 has turned the island upside down, after just a few years of rapid construction it now has a modern airport, tourist and business centers and a still growing infrastructure that has changed the island completely.

It is no secret that nearby Singapore is the role model, and the goal is eventually to become one of the biggest ports of Southeast Asia and a major center of international trade, industry and commerce. The strategic location close to the Malacca Strait and Singapore will certainly help reaching this goal, but like the rest of Indonesia the economy and development here was dealt a major blow during and after the Asia economic crisis in the late 1990's.