JAKARTA, June 26 (Bloomberg): Indonesia has announced that Foxconn Technology Group is considering investing in the country’s new capital, a move that would bolster the US$34 billion (RM150 billion) construction project.
The Taiwanese company is looking at setting up an electric bus system and an Internet of Things network at Nusantara, as Indonesia’s new capital will be called, Investment Minister Bahlil Lahadalia said in a statement on Sunday.
Young Liu, the chairman of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Foxconn’s flagship unit, met with Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Saturday to discuss the company’s plan to invest $8 billion to build a manufacturing plant with electric-scooter startup Gogoro Inc.
The factory, set to be built in Central Java province, will produce batteries and other electric vehicle-related products.
Liu told Jokowi, as the president is known, that Hon Hai is happy to help Indonesia set up talent training institutions, and it will provide EV technologies and products to local partners and work with them to build an EV ecosystem, according to a company statement on Saturday.
They also talked about batteries and renewable energy and exchanged ideas about the electric mobility industry, the statement said.
Indonesia is seeking to capitalize on its large reserves of nickel, a key component in batteries, to develop an EV industry.
The government is also planning to relocate its capital from Jakarta on Java island to Borneo island, where it plans to build a "green” city that will rely mostly on public transport and use renewable energy entirely. - Bloomberg
