Interview with Mr Nanda Widya of Metropolitan Land, Indonesia

Investment

Mr Nanda Widya

gbg	Metropolitan Land was established in 1970. Since its creation the company has expanded to become one of the leading property developers in Indonesia being involved in various commercial and residential projects. What have been the main strategies that have worked to expand Metropolitan Land?
Mr Nanda Widya	Metland is a subsidy of the Metropolitan Group. This is our main business, for residential we have 6 projects ranging from the middle low to middle up market range. Another business is in hotels, we have Horison hotels with 7 currently, we are planning to increase this to 60 hotels by 2015. Malls are also a good area in the country as they have a stable income. We concentrate on residential as Indonesia has a large population so this is why we focus on the middle income sector especially in the Jabotabek area as the total population is around 20 million people.
gbg	What are some of the main challenges facing the company today?
Mr Nanda Widya	After the Asian crisis, people were not trusting of the developers as a lot of people took the down payment and the project did not happen so we really make the effort to build trust. We are the only developer to install a camera that feeds video to the website of the construction site. This means that from the instant they buy the house they can start to see it. We have been doing this for more than 2 years.
gbg	Does Metropolitan Land have any expansion plans for the future?
Mr Nanda Widya	In the next two years we plan to enter international markets, we are studying Melbourne, Sydney and Kuala Lumpur. There are lots of opportunities there, maybe Melbourne first as the regulations are more favourable than Indonesia. We are already in Vietnam as we have a Horison Hotel in Hanoi but for Metland it will be in the next 2 years. To go to international markets we may well need to join with a local partner in that market and we are open to this opportunity.
gbg	What do you think should be done to make Indonesia’s real estate sector more competitive?
Mr Nanda Widya	The regulations in Indonesia are not good which makes it difficult for developers, as there are too many permits needed and it takes too long so we become uncompetitive compared to other countries in the region. I hope the government will improve this and the legal side. The plan to allow foreign ownership will help increase the price. Here, foreigners can buy a property for 30 years, in Singapore you can buy for 90 years or a freehold in Australia. The plan to change the regulation to 70 years will make it more interesting for investors.