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AKARTA: The government is looking for alternative sources of funds to pay for new military equipment that will cost twice what the budget allocates, a minister says.

Speaking after a hearing with House of Representatives’ Commission XI overseeing defense and foreign affairs in Jakarta on Monday, National Development Planning Minister Armida Alisjahbana said the government had allocated Rp 100 trillion (US$11.2 billion) for the procurement of military equipment for the period between 2010 and 2014.

“But, we need to find additional sources of funds because the existing sources would only cover Rp 50 trillion of the allocated spending,” she said.

She said the government would also strengthen the operation of state-owned strategic industry companies, including airplane manufacturer PT Dirgantara Indonesia (PT DI), weapons manufacturer PT Pindad and shipbuilder PT PAL to boost local production of military equipment.

“We want half of the country’s defense equipment procurement to be supplied by our domestic strategic industry,” said Armida, who also chairs the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas). — JP