A Chinese investor is set to realize the construction of an electric motorcyle factory in the Kendal Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Central Java.
Acting Governor of Central Java, Nana Sudjana, said the Chinese investor is expected to bring significant benefits to Central Java.
“This investment will expectedly benefit the people of Central Java in the forms of employment opportunity, technology as well as knowledge transfer to the community,” Nana said on Saturday, May 4, 2024
The Chinese investor is an electric motorcycle manufacturer, named Sunra. The company expressed its investment interest after attending the Central Java Investment Business Forum (CJIBF) in 2023 and realized its investment this year.
Sunra started producing electric motorcycles and electric bicycles in 1997. Currently, the company has five production bases in China with a production capacity of up to 10 million units per year.
Sunra’s Board Chairman, Zhang Chongsun, revealed that Indonesia is the company’s first choice for expansion overseas. The harmony of Central Java’s society is one of the factors that led Sunra to choose this region as its investment destination.
In the initial operational phase targeted to start in 2025, Sunra plans to produce 1 million electric bicycles to meet the needs of Asian countries.
“We plan to start production in May 2025 and employ around 1,500 people, some 95 percent of them will be local people,” Chongsun said.
In addition to using local workers, Sunra will also use raw materials from Indonesia. Most of the raw materials for the main components are already available in Indonesia and only a small portion that still needs to be imported.
Sunra also plans to invite manufacturers producing the required components to invest in Indonesia.
“There are components that still need to be imported for now, so next year, we will invite factories that make those components to invest here,” Chongsun said.
According to data from the Central Java Investment and Integrated Services Agency (DPMPTSP), the investment realization in the province continues to increase. Investment realization was recorded at Rp77.02 trillion (US$4.8 billion) in 2023, an increase from Rp68.4 trillion in 2022 and Rp59.79 trillion in 2021.
