Indonesian govt to spend $545 billion on infrastructure

JAKARTA - The Indonesian government will soon release a five-year infrastructure improvement plan worth over US$400 billion (S$500 billion) aimed at stimulating economic growth.

While fiscal reforms will help fund the project, Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo is to centralize authorisation procedures to encourage private sector investment and speed up administration of the projects. The government hopes to help its economy return to high growth following a recent slowdown by increasing jobs and consumption.

The National Development Planning Agency is putting the final touches on the plan so that Widodo can make it an executive order, possibly as early as Friday. The project outline will cover a broad array of works with total costs estimated to reach 5,500 trillion rupiah (S$545 billion). Projects will include improving 24 ports as well as construction of roads and water treatment facilities.

The central government is expected to pay about 40 per cent of the total cost. Indonesia's budget remained stable from 2010 to 2014, but now the Widodo administration, which assumed power last October, will prioritize national development which stagnated under the previous leadership of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

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