The US$600 million mega tourism development venture between Dubai's Emmar Properties and Bali Tourism Development Corporation in Indonesia Lombok Island is now underway and is expected to be operastional by 2010.

Minister Djoko Kirmanto, Indonesia Public Works, diclosed this to khaleej times during a forum on tourism and investment in Dubai the other day.

"We have started constructing the International airport on the Island and other ifrastructures such as water distribution system, water treatment plant, roads and others are now in place."

Lombok Island, which is less then an hour away from world famous Bali Island, is now gradually converted into a world-class residential and resort community sprawling over 1,175 hectares. Construction of the infrastructure needed for the island to become a tourist destination started in April this year, a month after the signing a joint veture in Dubai between the state-owned Bali Tourism Development Corporation and Dubai's Emmar Properties PJSC to undertake the Lombok mega-tourism and mix-usa project.

Minister Kimonto said the joint venture underlines the strong bilateral business relations between Indonesia and the UEA.

Emmar is one of the first developers from the Middle East and North Africa region to expand into Indonesia, and emerging market with strong growth potensial, especially in the tourism sector.

Three other UAE-based companies expending to Indonesia, he said, are the Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) Invesment Authority which will invest a total of $ 1,3 billion in South Sumatra to build an integrated port and a railway line, Pacipic-Inter Link, which has been in Indonesia since 1999 with an initial invesment of $150 million, and will put in additional $500 million tu build palm oil refinery plant in Dumai, Riau, and Al Ghurair Group through its subsidiary ETA which plans to invest around $500 million to enter Indonesia's refinery industry.

"We are promoting Indonesia to Dubai and the MENA Region as prospective homes for investors, who are to take part in food safety programe." We also need about $150 billion in the next five years to invest in public infrastructure development projects to maintain our economic growth at six per cent annually.