$50b needed for infrastructure
$50b needed for infrastructure
JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto yesterday called for private
sector companies to finance most of the over US$50 billion
investment needed for the construction of infrastructure
facilities in the country in the coming five years.
"We must build cities, roads, harbors and airports that
connect one place to another in our vast archipelago," he said at
the opening of the five-day World Infrastructure Forum-Asia 1994.
He told the meeting, attended by about 700 participants from
13 countries, that the role of international financial
institutions, like the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank
(ADB) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD) is still badly needed to finance
infrastructure development in Indonesia.
He acknowledged that the government has allocated about 60
percent of the financial aid accrued from international financial
institutions for the development of infrastructure facilities.
According to the Ministry of Finance, the government's
borrowing from foreign donor countries and institutions stood at
$59.46 billion as of June.
Soeharto said that private sector investments will concentrate
on the development of modern facilities, such as toll roads,
container ports, airports, power plants and transmission networks
as well as housing infrastructures.
The government, under its deregulatory measures announced in
June, has allowed foreign investors to get involved in the
construction and operation of infrastructure facilities,
including telecommunications, electricity, ports, airports and
aviation.
Growth
The President stressed the importance of infrastructure to
ensure economic growth, which Indonesia has projected to be
around six percent annually in the coming five years.
"Our experience shows that without good infrastructure our
economy will have difficulty growing and it will not be easy to
have an equitable distribution," he told the forum, which will
present Philippine President Fidel V. Ramos and Australian Deputy
Prime Minister Brian Howe, who is also Australian Minister for
Housing and Regional Development, as speakers today and tomorrow
respectively.
Speakers at the forum also include Indonesian Coordinating
Minister for Industry and Trade Hartarto, Singapore Minister of
Finance Richard Hu, Vietnamese Minister of Construction Ngo Xuan
Loc, Indian Minister of State for Industry Krishna Sahi and
Chinese Vice Minister for State Planning Gui Shiyong.
Chairman of PA Consulting Group John Foden told the meeting
that some US$2.5 trillion is projected to be spent on Asian
infrastructure projects by the year 2000.
According to a statement issued by the steering committee, the
forum is the vehicle to fulfill ADB's mandate to host an
infrastructure financing symposium.
At a ministerial meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic
Cooperation (APEC) forum in Hawaii of the United States last
March, the ADB was accredited to host a top-level symposium to
find ways of raising the $1 trillion or more required to finance
infrastructure projects in Asia over the next six years.
Soeharto yesterday also toured stands at the exhibition on
infrastructure and supporting services, carrying the theme
"Creating Opportunity Through Innovation", which is participated
in by 123 domestic and international companies.
Yesterday's opening ceremony was attended by foreign
diplomats, Jakarta Governor Surjadi Soedirdja and a number of
ministers, including Hartarto, Minister of Industry Tunky
Ariwibowo, State Minister for Investment Sanyoto Sastrowardoyo
and Minister of Transportation Haryanto Dhanutirto. (rid)
Investment -- Page 8