MP3E1 projects running as planned, minister says
Hans David Tampubolon, The Jakarta Post - 11/05/2012
Coordinating Economic Minister Hatta Rajasa says that most of the development projects from the government’s economic acceleration program are running according to their initial plans.
“In general, all the projects are running as expected,” Hatta said in Jakarta on Thursday, following a meeting on the progress of the projects developed under the Master Plan for the Acceleration and Expansion of Indonesian Economic Growth (MP3EI).
He said that 89 development projects, worth nearly Rp 500 trillion (US$54.5 billion), had been launched under the program, as of March.
“As many as 39 of them are infrastructure projects, while 50 are real sector [industrial] projects,” Hatta said. “The infrastructure projects are worth Rp 195.94 trillion and the sector real projects are worth Rp 294.79 trillion.”
Hatta said that the government planned to soon release a progress report on the MP3EI, which was launched last year.
“Hopefully, we will release our progress report on the MP3EI to the public in August,” Hatta said.
The MP3EI is a government program that is expected to trigger growth in Indonesia and, in the long run, make the country one of the top five global economies in 2025.
The program mainly focuses on infrastructure development in six corridors spread across the archipelago.
The six corridors are Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Bali–Nusa Tenggara and Papua–Maluku islands.
The development of the corridors is expected to garner at least Rp 4,000 trillion in investment in various projects within a 15-year period, spanning from 2011 to 2025.
Hatta said that to further accelerate development projects in the future, the government had also revised 30 regulations.
“So far, the reports show that most of the regulatory issues are concerned with land acquisition,” he said. “Therefore, we plan to conduct a special meeting involving businesses and governors to identify the projects that are experiencing problems with land acquisitions and we will try to find solutions as soon as possible.”
The government has yet to issue a Presidential regulation on the land acquisition law. Such a regulation is needed for the land acquisition law to be practically implemented.Hatta said that the regulation on land acquisition would be issued in May.He has previously said that the regulation would be issued in March and April.
Meanwhile, Indonesian Employers’ Association (Apindo) chairman Sofjan Wanandi said that the fate of future economic development in Indonesia lied with the government’s serious commitment to improve regulations for businesses.
“The private sector has prepared trillions of funds to be invested in the MP3EI corridors,” Sofjan said.
“However, we are still waiting for business-friendly regulations, such as on the land acquisition law, to be issued as soon as possible.”
Sofjan said that without resolving the issues with regulations, the MP3EI program would not be successfully implemented and the state was at risk of losing the opportunities to utilize the strong economic momentum to gain long-term, sustainable growth.