PORTALJABAR, BEKASI REGENCY - The Bekasi Regency Government has submitted three proposals in the discussion of the Industrial Area Bill (RUU) to increase industrial benefits for residents.

The proposals include strengthening environmental authority, employment opportunities for local workers, and regional investment profit-sharing schemes.

Bekasi Regency Regional Secretary Endin Samsudin said strengthening regional authority is important because there are around 12 industrial areas with more than 11,000 companies.

"If there's an environmental issue, we report it because the authority lies with the central government. This is our input so that regions can be given the space to regulate and handle it more quickly," he said.

The Bekasi Regency Government is also pushing for the bill to provide greater opportunities for residents around industrial areas to obtain employment opportunities.

This challenge is evident from the unemployment rate in Bekasi Regency, which has reached around 8.78 percent or 143,006 people.

The local government proposed the construction of a Vocational Training Center (BLK) in the industrial area so that residents can receive training according to company needs.

"BLK was created in an industrial area so that the benefits are clear for the surrounding community. There must be collaboration between the regional government and the industrial area," he said.

Endin also proposed a profit-sharing mechanism for industrial estate investments so that economic growth would also strengthen regional fiscal capacity.

"Because industrial areas are developing in the region, we propose that a portion of the investment profits be given to the district government," he said.

The Head of the Visiting Team of Commission VII of the Republic of Indonesia House of Representatives (DPR RI), Saleh Partaonan Daulay, said that regional input would be used to improve the Industrial Area Bill.

"The valuable information from the managers, especially regarding their ups and downs in managing this site, will certainly be our input in refining the draft Industrial Estate Law," he said.

Saleh hopes the bill can be completed by December 2026 at the latest, thus providing legal certainty for the development of industrial areas.

Regulatory certainty is expected to encourage investment while creating jobs and improving community welfare.

"If there is a legal framework, we hope that investment and investors will be more confident in coming to this place and to Indonesia in general to invest," he said.

Saleh emphasized that community benefits are the primary goal of industrial area development policies through investment and job creation.

"The goal is to improve people's welfare. Whatever we do, it's all about how this policy can benefit our society at large," he concluded.

(Bekasi Regency Communications and Information Service/bhf)