Investors assured of quick investment return

JAKARTA (JP): Government officials yesterday assured that private investors would recover investments for infrastructure projects in Indonesia within the first seven to 13 years of operation.

Secretary General of the Ministry of Public Works Ruslan Diwiryo, Director General of Electricity and Energy Development Arismunandar and President of PT Telkom, the state-owned telecommunication company, Setyanto P. Santosa said at the World Infrastructure Forum-Asia 1994 here yesterday that investments in toll roads, power plants and telecommunication projects are bankable and thus they should be attractive for private investors.

Ruslan noted that the government is trying to improve the setting for investments and provide investors with certain facilities, such as assisting land acquisition which has become a major problem for most investors in toll roads.

As the government has a limited budget for land acquisition, it is developing a bridge financing scheme, which allows investors to finance land appropriation for their toll road projects, and after a certain period of time the state-owned toll road operator PT Jasa Marga will pay them back.

The government is inviting foreign investors to take part in the development of 310 kilometers of roads over the coming five years.

When opening the forum yesterday, President Soeharto called for both foreign and local investors to finance most of the US$50 billion needed for the development of infrastructure facilities in the coming five years.

Arismunandar stated that the electricity sector will need huge investments from the private sector because new power plants with a total capacity of almost 4,000 megawatts will be needed in the next five years.

"We are flooded with hundreds of proposals, and thus we can be more selective as there are more choices... This is evidence that investments in electricity are attractive enough," he said.

Setyanto of Telkom also invited foreign investors to take part in the country's telecommunication projects which will offer five million new telephone lines within the next five years.

Next month, Setyanto said, the government will tender contracts for the installation of two million telephone lines.

Setyanto said investments in telecommunication projects can be recovered within seven to nine years. (rid)