RI hopes Japan will help IT projects
RI hopes Japan will help IT projects
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia expects the Japanese government will
allocate part of its US$15 billion "digital divide" fund to
finance information technology development projects.
Minister of Industry and Trade Luhut Panjaitan said here on
Friday that a team from the Indonesian information technology
(IT) commission would meet Japanese officials here later this
month to discuss the funding requirement.
The minister said the commission, known as Telematika
Indonesian Coordinating Team, would propose a number of IT
projects during the meeting.
"We certainly need the funding to promote Internet access in
the country," Luhut said. But he was reluctant to mention how
much of the Japanese aid Indonesia would require.
The Japanese government promised in a summit meeting in
November of leaders of the eight industrialized countries in
Tokyo to provide $15 billion in soft loans and grants to help
promote the development of information technology in developing
countries.
Promoting Internet access is one of the priorities of the
funding.
The commission's secretary-general, J.B. Kristiadi, said that
the team to join the meeting with the Japanese officials included
representatives from the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and
Industry, the Telecommunications and Information Technology
Society and the Internet Service Provider Association (APJII).
Representative from the private sector would also take part in
the meeting because the Japanese special aid would also be given
to private companies.
Kristiadi said one of the proposed programs would be an
ongoing Internet-goes-to school project. The project has been
able to provide Internet access to 1,200 high schools or roughly
600,000 students, he added.
The project, known as Sekolah2000, is being carried out in
cooperation with APJII, Warnet Association, the Ministry of
Education, Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunication, and
PT Telkom.
A number of telecommunications facilities have been built to
support the program, Kristiadi said.
He said that the project is expected to be able to provide
Internet access to 1,800 schools or 900,000 students.
Kristiadi said another program is establishing an e-government
which is a government attempt to serve the public effectively
through the Internet.
The e-government program will be one of the pilot projects to
be carried out in several provinces this year such as in Jakarta
and Tangerang, he said.
Other programs would also include promoting e-commerce,
especially in small and medium enterprises.
Japan plans to provide $15 billion between 2001 and 2005 on
programs to erase the digital divide between industrialized and
developing nations. The fund will comprise $12 billion in loans
and the remaining $3 billion as grants. (05)