Invest in East Kalimantan
Coal, oil and gas, the Balikpapan and Samarinda property markets, and the new national capital, Nusantara, rising between them.
Contact usKalimantan Timur
East Kalimantan in figures
- Capital
- Samarinda
- Population, mid-2025
- 4.27 million
- Area
- 126,952 km²
- Regencies and cities
- 7 regencies, 3 cities
- GRDP, 2025
- Rp 889.1 trillion
Population (mid-2025 estimate) and GRDP (current prices): BPS-Statistics Indonesia.
Sectors
What to invest in
-
Coal
Mining and quarrying made up 34.11% of the economy in the second quarter of 2025, and coal 76.54% of exports in July 2025. The Mahakam carries coal barges down to the coast.
Ask about coal -
Property
Balikpapan and Samarinda are the largest markets, joined by Kalimantan’s first toll road, with Nusantara being built between them in Penajam Paser Utara and Kutai Kartanegara.
Ask about property -
Oil palm
One of Indonesia’s main oil palm provinces. The Maloy Batuta Trans Kalimantan special economic zone in East Kutai was set up for palm oil processing.
Ask about oil palm -
Carbon & forest restoration
The province’s forest programme earned US$110 million in World Bank results-based payments for 22 million tonnes of verified emission cuts, the last US$89.1 million in December 2025.
Ask about carbon projects
Access
Ports, roads and industry
- Balikpapan: the main seaport with the Kariangau terminal and industrial estate, Pertamina’s refinery and Sepinggan airport.
- Samarinda: the Palaran terminal on the Mahakam, and an airport of its own.
- The toll road between Balikpapan and Samarinda, Kalimantan’s first, opened in sections in 2019 and 2021.
- Bontang’s LNG plant, and the Maloy Batuta Trans Kalimantan special economic zone, operating since 2019.
Due diligence
Check before you buy
-
Around Samarinda and the coal districts, check licence maps and old pits before you buy land.
Void pits, reclamation and communities: coal's local footprint -
Near Nusantara, check what has been approved and built, not what is planned. Land sold on the plan often runs ahead of it.
Buying land near Nusantara: what to check first -
For a coal asset, check the licence type, its term and the production plan approved for the year.
Coal licences: IUP, IUPK and the old PKP2B contracts -
Check forest status first. A certificate or a licence doesn’t prove the land sits outside the forest estate.
Forest area status: the check that can sink a land deal
Articles
Keep reading
- The five provinces of Kalimantan, compared Capitals, economies, ports, airports and leading sectors of West, Central, South, East and North Kalimantan, set side by side in one table.
- Balikpapan property: what drives the market How the refinery, the port and the new roads to Samarinda and Nusantara drive property demand in Balikpapan, and the risks to check before you buy.
- Nusantara, the new capital: what it changes and what it doesn't Where Indonesia's new capital sits, the law and authority behind it, land terms after the 2025 court ruling, its budget and what it means for land nearby.
- Buying land near Nusantara: what to check first The rules that control land sales in and around the new capital, why plots sold on land letters there are risky, and the checks to finish before you pay.
- Coal in Kalimantan: the basics for investors Where Kalimantan's coal is mined, what grades it produces, who buys it and who holds the licences, with Indonesia's output figures for 2024 to 2026.
- Void pits, reclamation and communities: coal's local footprint Why open coal pits in East Kalimantan have drowned people, what the law asks of licence holders, what an old pit can become and what a buyer should check.
General information, not investment advice. The figures are the latest published when this page was updated, so confirm them before you rely on them.
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