Bali to host 11th AsiaConstruct
Bali to host 11th AsiaConstruct
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Bali is to host the 11th annual AsiaConstruct Conference,
starting on Friday, where state officials and construction
industry players from Asia-Pacific nations will meet to exchange
information and business opportunities.
Vice President Jusuf Kalla is expected to open the event,
which would also feature several economics ministers, organizers
said.
The conference would hopefully complement the government's
drive to develop the country's ailing infrastructure, event
chairman Sulistijo Sidarto Mulyo said.
"(The Infrastructure Summit) put more emphasis on generating
funding, while (this event can) promote the domestic construction
industry's ability to work cooperatively on these projects," said
Sulistijo, who is also the chairman of National Construction
Service Development Board (LPJK).
The government held the summit in January, offering investors
91 infrastructure projects, worth US$22.5 billion as part of
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's efforts to push annual
average economic growth to more than 6 percent.
The projects offered spanned the country and included priority
concerns -- toll roads, gas pipelines, power plants, airports and
seaports, water systems, railroads and telecommunications.
However, almost eight months after the summit, there has been
limited progress in luring investors, with only six projects so
far having successfully been tendered out of the planned 91
projects, prompting the government to delay its plan for a second
Infrastructure Summit from November to February next year.
Sulistijo said he hoped the Bali conference would help
facilitate infrastructure programs in well-planned steps.
"We aim to create a guide that would ensure sustainability,
continuity and stability. In this way, the working plans (of
industry) wouldn't have to be halted midway, say, due to changes
in government," he said.
Participants in the conference would also focus on best-work
practices, as a way to improve their competitiveness.
The event, which was first held in Japan in 1993, now hosts
industry players from Australia, Bhutan, China, Hong Kong, India,
Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines,
Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.
LPJK deputy chairman A. Sutjipto said the conference would
also pay special attention to construction issues regarding
natural disasters, after the devastating earthquake and tsunami
that hit South Asia and the recent impact of Hurricane Katrina.
"By anticipating the future, we hope construction industry
players will be more ready to face such occurrences," Sutjipto
said.
The two-day conference in Jimbaran, Bali, is to feature a
business forum and exhibition.