West Nusa Tenggara highlights three strategic investment opportunities

West Nusa Tenggara Governor Lalu Muhamad Iqbal revealed that there are three strategic investment opportunities in West Nusa Tenggara Province, namely in solar panel development, cattle farming, and tourism.

"The sector that is most in demand for investment is the first in the solar panel sector, because the demand for electricity in West Nusa Tenggara has increased by 11 percent per year," he explained in Mataram City, West Nusa Tenggara Province on Mar. 10, 2025.

Iqbal said that the increasing demand for green electricity proves that there is an industrialization process that is already underway.

The new and renewable energy (NRE) with the largest power generationpotential in West Nusa Tenggara is solar with 10,628 megawatt (MW) based on West Nusa Tenggara Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Office data, followed by wind power with 2,605 MW, bioenergy with 298 MW, and municipal waste-to-energy (WtE) with 32 MW.

The contribution of NRE to the province's regional energy mix has reached 22.43 percent by mid-2024, which include B35 (35 percent fatty acid methyl ester biodiesel), on-grid and off-grid solar power plants (SPP), small hydropower plants, coal-fired power plants (CFPP) with biomass co-firing, and household-scale biogas.

Iqbal emphasized that the West Nusa Tenggara Government is encouraging investment in the energy sector and also looking for other potential energy sectors to solve local problems in the form of waste generation.

"We are looking for investors who can utilize existing waste, particulary in waste sorting, so that we can use it for energy," he explained

Iqbal further said that another business sector that have promising opportunities for investors is the agriculture and animal husbandry sector, especially cattle industry. The number of cattle in West Nusa Tenggara reached 810,070 in 2023 based on Statistics Indonesia (BPS) data, with the numbers for both cattle and buffalo in the province rising by 10 percent year-on-year (yoy) from 2013 to 2023.

The largest cattle population in West Nusa Tenggara is in the regencies of Sumbawa, Bima, Central Lombok, Dompu, and East Lombok.

"Especially for cattle, investors must not only invest but also create an ecosystem," said Iqbal.

Moreover, the West Nusa Tenggara government will immediately publish the tourism opportunities so that information about sports tourism in the province can be widely disseminated.

"So far, there have been no competitors in Southeast Asia [for Grand Prix motorcycle racing or MotoGP], and that is an added value for West Nusa Tenggara. We [also] want to become a national aero sport center because West Nusa Tenggara has natural beauty that can be enjoyed from the air to the land," concluded Iqbal.