Rp4T to be injected for new infrastructure body

The government, in concert with the World Bank and Asian Development Bank (ADB), plans to inject up to Rp4 trillion ($340 million) into a special body that will provide loans to investors interested in developing long-term infrastructure projects, a senior government official said on Tuesday, The Jakarta Globe reported.<br /><br />&quot;Looking at the current conditions, we expect the project to move forward and provide funding should developers have difficulty securing financing while banks have only short-term funds,&quot; Wahyu Utomo, the coordinating minister for the economy's deputy assistant for infrastructure and underdeveloped areas told reporters at a seminar in Jakarta. <br /><br />Utomo said the body to be called simply &quot;Infrastructure Funds” would be set up in February and should be operational sometime in the first half of this year<br /><br />The government expects to make a contribution of Rp1 trillion to the body, with the rest coming from ADB and World Bank. &quot;Indonesian banks' balance sheets mostly consist of short-term deposits,&quot; said P.S. Srivinas, lead financial economist at the World Bank in Jakarta. &quot;Therefore, they cannot finance long-term loans like those for an infrastructure project.&quot;<br /><br />Dedy S. Priatna, the state minister for national development planning's deputy for infrastructure, said Indonesia would need Rp1.429 trillion to finance the infrastructure projects the government has planned for 2010-2014. However, he indicated that on its own the government likely could only afford 30% of that total. The rest, it is hoped, could be secured through public-private partnerships.