Industrial and warehouse land near Kalimantan's ports

Industrial land in Kalimantan is worth what it connects to. A plant or a warehouse needs a road that takes heavy trucks, a port or jetty within reach, power at the load it draws and ground that stays dry. Plots with all of these are scarce, and most sit in a handful of estates and zones near the main ports.

The paperwork decides the rest. A plot zoned for something else, or held on a right you can’t renew, isn’t industrial land however good its location.

Estates, zones and land outside them

The Industry Law (Law 3 of 2014) requires a factory to be inside an industrial estate. A factory can sit outside one if its district or city has no estate or no plots left, but it then has to be in an area the spatial plan sets aside for industry. Small and medium plants that don’t risk widespread pollution are exempt too, as are plants that use special raw materials or need a special location for their process. Estates are governed by Government Regulation 20 of 2024 on industrial zoning, which replaced the 2015 rules on industrial estates.

A special economic zone (Kawasan Ekonomi Khusus, KEK) is created by its own government regulation and comes with its own tax and customs incentives. A warehouse can sit outside an estate wherever the spatial plan allows warehousing.

Where the estates and zones are

Kariangau, on Balikpapan Bay, is the city’s industrial estate, with a container port inside it. An expansion planned in 2012, to a development area of about 5,000 hectares, drew objections over the bay’s mangroves and the Sungai Wain protection forest on its northern side. Ask which phase a plot sits in and how close it is to protected land. Balikpapan’s market has its own article.

The Maloy Batuta Trans Kalimantan special economic zone, in East Kutai regency, was set up by Government Regulation 85 of 2014 for palm oil processing, energy and logistics. It was declared operating in 2019. Confirm its status and incentives with the national council for special economic zones before relying on them.

On the Bulungan coast in North Kalimantan, the government’s register of national strategic projects lists the Tanah Kuning industrial estate, to be built with private money, at the preparation stage. Check what has been built and which plots carry title before you pay.

Kijing, on the coast of Mempawah regency north of Pontianak, is a terminal of Pontianak’s port. It opened on 9 August 2022 for containers and for bulk cargo such as crude palm oil, bauxite and alumina, and the government presented the land around it as room for industry.

Batulicin, the seat of Tanah Bumbu regency in South Kalimantan, is a coal shipping hub with a planned industrial estate on the national strategic project list. Government Regulation 26 of 2024, signed on 13 June 2024, created the Setangga special economic zone on 668.3 hectares in Simpang Empat district of the same regency.

Zoning comes first

Every business location needs a spatial-use approval (Kesesuaian Kegiatan Pemanfaatan Ruang, KKPR), obtained through the online licensing system (Online Single Submission, OSS) before the business licence. Government Regulation 21 of 2021 sets two routes. Where the area has a detailed spatial plan (Rencana Detail Tata Ruang, RDTR), you get a confirmation checked against it. Where there’s no RDTR, you get an approval assessed against the district, provincial and national plans, with a technical opinion from the land office. A jetty, or anything else in coastal waters, needs a separate approval for the use of marine space.

The KKPR states the permitted use, the share of the plot you can build on and the total floor area allowed. If the land sits in a designated forest area, forestry rules apply on top, and checking forest area status explains how.

Title on an estate: HGB over HPL

Under Government Regulation 18 of 2021, a right of management (Hak Pengelolaan, HPL) over state land can only go to government bodies, state and regional enterprises, the land bank agency and bodies the central government appoints. On an estate run by one of them, you usually get a right to build (Hak Guna Bangunan, HGB) on top of the operator’s HPL. A private estate company generally can’t hold HPL, so on a private estate you usually get a split of its own HGB. An Indonesian company, including a foreign-owned company (PT PMA), can hold HGB. A foreign individual can’t.

An HGB over HPL runs for up to 30 years, can be extended by up to 20 and renewed by up to 30. Extension and renewal need the HPL holder’s consent and can be granted once the land is used as intended. When the last term ends, the land returns to the HPL holder.

The land-use agreement (perjanjian pemanfaatan tanah) with the HPL holder carries as much weight as the certificate. The regulation requires it to set out the term, extension, renewal, transfer and mortgage of your right, the annual fee and what happens to the land and buildings when the right ends. The guide to land rights compares the titles.

Power, water, access and flooding

Power is often the first constraint. Ask the state electricity company (PLN) in writing what load it can supply at the site and from when. Where it can’t, a plant needs its own generators, with their own licence and fuel costs.

Water comes next. Find out whether the estate supplies process water, or whether you’ll need your own source and a permit to draw it.

Access means the road class and bridge limits for your heaviest truck, and the depth at the jetty at low tide. River sites can lose barge access when water levels drop in the dry season.

Flooding is often the costliest problem to fix. Delta and coastal sites sit low and peat settles under load. A plot that’s dry in the dry season can stand in water in the wet one.

Before you sign

• Get the KKPR for your exact use, or written confirmation that the estate’s approvals cover it.
• Read the certificate and the land-use agreement together, and count the years left before the next extension.
• Ask the operator for its fees, service charges and rules on subletting and transfer.
• Get written answers on power, water and drainage from the providers themselves.
• Visit at high tide in the wet season, and drive the route your heaviest truck will take.