Morowali Industrial Park Spurs Local Community Development

The Indonesian Morowali Industrial Park (IMIP) was inaugurated by President Joko in 2015 and has brought development to the community, especially in the Bajodopi area, one of the sub-districts of Morowali regency. There are at least two nickel processing smelters operating in the area, the first being IMIP and the second being Wanxiang Nickel Indonesia.The IMIP industrial zone itself was designated as a National Strategic Project and Objective of National Importance (Obvitnas) in 2019. The area covers about 3,000 hectares and has a labor force of more than 83,000 people. The social change from an agrarian society to an industrial society is very evident in Bakhodopi, an example of which is the surge in population migration from Central Sulawesi and other provinces in Indonesia. The effect of industrial development was that both locals and migrants seized business opportunities by setting up boarding houses for their employees. At the same time, others have opened food stalls, laundry services, and workshops. The boarding house business in Bahodopi started in 2009. One of the boarding sources said that when PT BDM (Bintang Delapan Mineral) was the first to make boarding house, it was still very simple then, when the boarding house had wooden frames and plywood walls, and even the roofs were still thatched, with the roofs made of sago leaves. The owner of the house is a Morowali Bahodopi from central Sulawesi, and we met at his house last weekend. Over time, the Bahodopi district has continued to grow. The boarding business is growing not only in Fatufia village but also in the 12 villages in Bahodopi district. In addition when the first smelter in PT IMIP district under PT Sulawesi Mining Investment started to operate, the rainy season hostels in Bahodopi grew like a spring. Prior to the establishment of the smelter, the rental price of the boarding house was still low based on the adjustment of the income of the employees at that time, and the price of the boarding house was still Rp 300,000 per month.

In 2016 he built a boarding house, there happened to be empty land and enough funds, just after the building, it was already full, this is a good prospect, so he built a new house the next year. The building was permanent, 35 square meters in size, rented for Rp 1.5 million per month, and had amenities that included cable TV internet, a dining table, a private bathroom, a bedroom and living room, and free utilities. This was followed by four more subsidized housing units with an area of 70 square meters at Rp 2.5 million per month. In addition to the boarding business, he has a guesthouse, kiosk, and photocopying. There are 10 rooms per day with rents ranging from Rp 300,000 per day. The monthly income from these different businesses is estimated to be up to Rp 90 million to Rp 120 million. Another landlord said that the place where he first built his boarding house is not far from the Koramil 1311/BS office and has seven rooms. Establishing a boarding business has good potential and is very promising. In addition his own land is spread over four villages and almost all schools have built hostels with 66 rooms. Rental prices vary from Rp 850,000 per room to Rp 1.3 million per room. He also owns some land which is rented out to food courts, restaurants and other establishments. They have their own business and currently supply food to contractors. In addition to that, there is a transportation service company with employees. He manages three businesses, and of these three, the most significant turnover comes from the boarding business. In a month's time, the turnover obtained by his various businesses can be hundreds of millions of dong. Another local villager said that a good business to develop in the area is boarding houses. He currently rents out 22 dormitories and predicts that he can earn between Rp 20 million and Rp 25 million per month. The rooms vary in size from 12 square meters to 20 square meters, and rental prices range from Rp 900,000 to Rp 1.5 million per month. Before establishing the boarding house business, he supplied fish to PT BDM for up to Rp 50 million per month. Therefore he used this money to build boarding house and now I focus on boarding house business because the turnover may be more than Rp 50 million.

Indeed, the establishment of boarding operations can provide opportunities for local residents to earn additional income. This can also help reduce poverty and positively impact local economic activity in the long run.The growth of hostel operations around the IMIP industrial zone is inextricably linked to the continued growth in the number of workers in the area, which can also lead to an increase in the demand for housing.The head of the human resources department at PT IMIP stated that as of July 2024, there were a total of 83,428 employees in the IMIP industrial zone, and that this number is expected to continue to increase until it reaches 90,000 by the end of 2024.An independent survey conducted by PT IMIP through the Research and Branding Department as of February 2024 recorded that there are 16,596 boarding businesses around the local area, which means that if averaged out over a month, and if the price of each room is Rp 1 million per month, the turnover of boarding fees in the local area could be up to Rp 165,960,000,000 Rp. The study conducted independently by PT IMIP shows that the local business will grow significantly in 2021-2023. 4,697 new businesses were added in the region in 2021, and 5,034 new businesses were added in the following year, 2022, which is an increase of 6.67% from the previous year. by 2023, the number of businesses in the region has increased to 6,617, which is an increase of 24% from the previous year. In terms of business growth, there are 10 businesses that people in the region are most widely involved in, including kiosks, non-building food stands, basic food kiosks or grocery stores, food stands, non-building beverage stands, motorcycle and/or automobile repair stores, clothing stores, credit counters and/or cellular phone service outlets, laundromats, and kiosks, which also includes banking agents without offices, such as BRI-Link .

The store of a motorcycle repair store owner from Waho District, South Sulawesi Province, is often crowded with customers who come to his store to have their motorcycles repaired. From an income point of view, opening a repair store locally is more promising than in his hometown. A year ago, February 2023 to be exact, he moved from Wajo to Bahodopi and immediately opened his repair business. At first he wanted to give it a try, especially after the industrial development of Morowali, which proved to be significantly better income than in the village. Another migrant resident also saw the opportunity to start a business locally rather than in his home village, and his motorcycle repair store already has a local branch. For them, the capital required to develop a business in Morowali is less. In terms of land for business locations, the rental price of land in Makassar is much higher than in Morowali. As far as income is concerned, starting a repair store business in Morowali is more promising. Here about 10 to 30 motorcycles are being repaired a day and the gross profit is Rp 60 to 70 million per month, which they in turn use to pay for the mechanic's salary, store operating costs and purchasing expenses, resulting in a net income of up to Rp 20 million per month.