Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Luhut Binsar Panjaitan said that Indonesia’s participation in the One Bet One Road (OBOR) Summit in Beijing will boost the equity of infrastructure development in Indonesia.

“Our strategy is to promote sustainable and balanced development between Java and outside Java. That’s what we’re offering to China, so that they can be a part of a sustainable development,” Luhut said in Beijing in a press release received by Tempo today.

According to Luhut, a number of projects in Manado are focused on interregional connections and the transportation sector.

“The airfield in Manado has reached its maximum length, since there’s a mount at the end of it. The length is 2,800 meters now,” Luhut explained.

Luhut added that an area with a size of a few thousand hectares in Manado will be pitched to investors to be developed. Luhut will also pitch new transportation hub and accommodation projects, which are expected to open new connections between eastern Indonesia and foreign countries.

“We’re also planning to develop a railway construction project that will connect Gorontalo and Bitung, so that it can be a hub in east [Indonesia]. Bitung is quite strategic, and it can connect straight to Darwin and Japan,” Luhut added.

According to Luhut, the Central Indonesia region has a huge potential for hydropower plants, such at that in North Kalimantan.

“There’s a hydropower plant potential worth 7,700 megawatts, and we may offer it in three or four stages. We’re going to build an aluminum smelter there,” Luhut added.

Luhut revealed that other projects in West Indonesia include railway extension from Kuala Tanjung to Toba Lake, Duri, Dumai and Pekanbaru.

If the investment was realized, Luhut went on, Indonesia and China will be benefited, and the government will require investors to transfer technology to local workers.

As many as 50 countries attended the OBOR Summit. Among the delegations are 29 heads of states, such as Indonesian President Joko Widodo or Jokowi, Malaysian PM Nadjib Abdul Razak, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

source: tempo.co