Province

West Sulawesi

West Sulawesi

Located in the western part of Sulawesi island, West Sulawesi is a province in Indonesia that covers an area of 16,594.75 square kilometers as of 2022. It is bordered by Central Sulawesi to the east, South Sulawesi to the south, and the Makassar Strait to the west. West Sulawesi’s administrative region consists of six regencies: Majene, Polewali Mandar, Mamasa, Mamuju, Pasangkayu, and Central Mamuju. The capital city of the province is Mamuju, serving as the economic and administrative center of West Sulawesi.

Demographically, West Sulawesi has a population primarily consisting of indigenous ethnic groups such as the Mandar, Toraja Mamasa, Pattae, and Kalumpang people. Although the Mandar people are considered the largest ethnic group in the province, the population of West Sulawesi also consists of other ethnic groups who relocated from various parts of Indonesia, such as the Bugis, Javanese, Balinese, Sasak, and East Nusa Tenggara people. As for religion, the majority of the population in the province are Muslims, followed by Christians, Catholics, Hindus, Buddhists, Konghucu, and adherents of indigenous beliefs.

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West Sulawesi’s economy

Based on data from the West Sulawesi Central Statistics Agency (BPS), the province recorded a Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) of Rp 35.4 billion in 2023. The province’s economy is known to be driven by the mining, agriculture, and fishing sectors. Consistent with this, the agriculture, forestry, and fishing sectors dominate contributions to the GRDP, totaling Rp 13.9 billion. This is mainly attributed to agriculture, livestock, hunting, and agriculture services, which collectively amount to Rp 10.2 billion.

The manufacturing sector made the second-largest contribution to West Sulawesi’s GRDP in 2023, achieving Rp 4.1 billion, mainly from the manufacture of food products and beverages, which accounted for Rp 3.7 billion.

The third most contributing sector to the province’s GRDP in 2023 is wholesale and retail trade, including the repair of motors, with Rp 3.4 billion. Out of this figure, the majority came from wholesale and retail trade, totaling Rp 2.8 billion.

Additionally, a national strategic project (PSN) is also being developed in the province, namely the Budong-Budong dam.

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Latest News

May 19, 2025

Investment and Downstream Deputy Minister/Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) Deputy Head Todotua Pasaribu held a working visit to Xiamen City, People's Republic of China to explore a potential maritime and fisheries sector cooperation with the East Asian country. During his visit, Deputy Minister Todotua received investment interest from Zhenghui Group, a company engaged in the maritime industry.

Todotua welcomed the investment interest, which is set to be distributed to the Sulawesi, Papua, and Sumatra regions in three phases, with an initial focus on West Sulawesi Province through strategic cooperation with Kaisar Group. The initiative includes the provision of 1,500 fishing vessels, training of 500 to 1,000 marine technicians, and strengthening research collaboration between Indonesian and Chinese universities in the development of sustainable fisheries technology.

"In this first phase, the investment plan is [worth] about US$100 million. This is one of the downstream programs that we will seriously develop in the future. Downstreaming will not only occur in the mineral, coal, oil and gas commodity industries, but we will also seriously manage it in the maritime industry," explained Todotua.

During this visit, Deputy Minister Todotua also witnessed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between PT KIPAS and three leading companies from China, namely Fujian Yihe Shipbuilding Heavy Industry Co., Ltd., Zhangzhou Hansheng Ship Design Co., Ltd., and China Overseas Development Association (CODA). This MoU covers cooperation in the shipbuilding industry, offshore fishing vessel manufacturing, fishing port management, and marine product processing.

"This investment is an integrated one, with the concept being the creation of a maritime industrial ecosystem starting from the ship design industry, ship design production, then the ships that will be used to catch fish in our waters, and the results will also be processed in the area," said Todotua.

Todotua also took the time to directly review the Zhenghui Group, which has a 2.4 ha seafood processing and cold storage facility in the Dongguan Bonded Zone and the Shipyard Industry with a production capacity of 150-600 gross register tonnage (GRT) ships.

The Indonesian government views this collaboration as an important step in supporting an inclusive and sustainable blue economic transformation. It is hoped that this strategic partnership will not only strengthen the national fisheries industry, but also open up opportunities for the empowerment of local fishermen and increasing Indonesian marine exports.

Based on Investment and Downstream Ministry/BKPM data, the PRC was recorded to be the third largest source of foreign investments to Indonesia in the first quarter (Q1) of 2025 with a total investment of US$1.8 billion from 13,788 projects.

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