Indonesia To Propose Six Infrastructure Projects To the Newborn AIIB, Says Finance Minister

Two days before the new China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) formally opened for business yesterday in Beijing, on Jan. 13, Indonesian Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro said his country will propose six projects which will focus on several sectors including energy, roads and drinking water, reported the Jakarta Post reported Saturday. “We are going to propose those projects for the period of 2016 and 2017. Their combined costs exceed $2 billion. For instance, the energy project is part of [state electricity company] PLN’s work to develop 10,000 megawatts of electricity across the country,” he said.

Indonesia is aiming for executive positions in the newly formed bank as a strategy to optimize support for the country’s upcoming infrastructure projects, Jakarta Globe reported a minister as saying. “Indonesia’s presence will ease our coordination with multilateral lenders. This is the first time Indonesia will have high-profile representatives” in such a global organization, Finance Minister Bambang noted. Bambang and his entourage are in Beijing attending two days of AIIB’s Jan. 16-18 board of governors and board of directors meetings.

The Jakarta Post reported Bambang insisting that the membership within the AIIB was key for Indonesia to expand financing options for its various infrastructure projects. “At present, our funding pool is made up of state budget funds and funds from other multilateral institutions,” such as the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and Islamic Development Bank, he said. In 2016, the government set aside Rp313.5 trillion rupiahs ($22.59 billion) in the state budget for infrastructure projects, the second largest funding allocation after education, the Jakarta Post noted.