ER
MANY investors were starting to show interest in investing in the Mandalika Exclusive Economic Zone (SEZ) following the 2022 MotoGP race at the Mandalika Circuit, Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, 18-20 March 2022.
“This interest has emerged relatively recently, which has caused concerns about the lack of accommodation for domestic and foreign tourists watching the international event. Investors who will build the hotel are already lining up at Mandalika. Usually, if one investor comes, like Pullman, it will attract other investors as well,” said West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) Governor Zulkieflimansyah.
Later, he said, the issue of accommodation shortages would be resolved with the construction of hotels and inns following the high demand for accommodation for the MotoGP race.
According to him, the concern about the lack of accommodation arose when many investors were not sure about international racing events such as the MotoGP in Mandalika, Lombok. Many investors refrain from investing in the midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic which has caused the accommodation capacity for MotoGP this year to be relatively small.
“People still don’t believe this is true, many investors, especially in the hotel and wait-and-see sector, especially during a pandemic, people want to make hotels not count, so it’s natural that there is a feeling of lack of accommodation,” he remarked.
Zulkieflimansyah explained even the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy projects that the audience from abroad and domestic for this year’s MotoGP race will reach 100 thousand people. However, the total accommodation installed from hotels, inns to tourist villages in the Mandalika SEZ is only 23 thousand units as of December 2021.
“The Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy is currently trying to increase residential capacity by using floating boats in the Gili Tramena area which is directly connected to Mandalika. In addition, the Ministry of Tourism will also direct the audience to stay in Bali,” he noted.
He added that previously, special economic zone (KEK) Mandalika received an investment commitment of IDR17 trillion from investors who would develop infrastructure that supports tourism. Data from ITDC noted that several investors, such as the Master Land Utilization & Development Agreement (Luda), Vinci Construction Grands Projects (VCGP), invested US$1 billion or IDR14 trillion.
“This large investment will be carried out in stages over 15 years for the development of the Mandalika area. We have received this commitment and will be realized in stages. Luda is one of them who is committed to building a hotel of up to 1700 rooms in Mandalika with an investment value of IDR 3 trillion,” he underlined.
The Indonesian government continues to boost investment in Mandalika through the development of supporting infrastructure such as the Lombok International Airport By Pass road to Mandalika. [bisnis.com/photo special]
