BKPM to showcase first five projects in October

The Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) plans to organize a roadshow in October both at home and abroad to promote the first five infrastructure projects to be built under the Private Public Partnership (PPP) scheme, a senior official says.

“We are going to start identifying potential domestic and foreign investors attracted to these five PPP projects,” BKPM vice chairman Yus’an said Monday after a hearing with House of Representatives Commission VI overseeing trade, investment and industry.

“After the roadshow, the development of those five projects could hopefully commence at the beginning of next year,” he added, while mentioning that the government was expecting potential investors including from China and European countries to take part in the projects.

According to the BKPM, the five PPP projects worth US$4.44 billion included Soekarno-Hatta International Airport-Manggarai railway line (US$735 million), Tanah Ampo cruise terminal in Bali ($30 million), Medan-Kualanamu tollroad in North Sumatra ($475 million), Umbulan tapwater plant in Pasuruan, East Java ($200 million), and a coal-powered power plant with a 3,000-megawatt capacity in Central Java ($3 billion).

Vice President Boediono has declared the five projects as the pioneer projects of the PPP scheme.

Yus’an said despite many problems that had hampered the five projects, they would all begin
on time.

National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) deputy chairman Dedy S. Priatha said in a statement issued last week that the five PPP projects were not ready to be tendered in October because there were still many problems to be resolved.

The Medan-Kualanamu tollroad project, for example, was facing difficulties in land acquisition and a disagreement with the Chinese government, which had previously agreed to provide soft loans for the project.

The Soekarno-Hatta airport—Manggarai railway project, another example, was awaiting the completion of a feasibility study. The coal-fired power plant in Central Java was waiting on a government guarantee that it required because the project’s return on investment (ROE) was not in line with its feasibility study. (ebf)