The government emphasized that it would revoke the tax holiday facility for new investment in the construction of a rotary kiln-electric furnace (RKEF) pyrometallurgical plant. It is planned that the revocation policy will be carried out in the near future in line with the government's commitment to stop the already intensive rate of investment in the high grade nickel ore or saprolite processing plant.
"Right now there are lots of smelters in Indonesia of all kinds, so in my opinion it can no longer be categorized as a pioneer industry so there is no need to give a tax holiday, but this only applies to new ones," said the Deputy for Investment and Mining at the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Septian Hario Seto to Business, Sunday (7/5/2023).
Processing with RKEF technology generally produces second class nickel processed products in the form of nickel pig iron (NPI) and ferronickel (FeNi) which are then made into stainless steel. Nevertheless, Seto stressed, this policy only applies to new investments in the next high grade nickel ore processing smelter. Thus, investments that have previously received tax holiday facilities can still enjoy the tax write-off until the later utilization deadline. "It's impossible for the government to revoke the [tax holiday], that's a parable from the point of view of investment certainty, it's important, yes, they can get it until the tax holiday period expires," he said.
