P

resident Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono officially launched on Friday his administration’s ambitious
Rp 4,000 trillion (US$468 billion) economic master plan for 2011 to 2025, but some of the announced “ground-breaking projects” were criticized as overlapping with the existing ones.

The so-called “Master Plan for the Acceleration and Expansion of Indonesian Economic Growth” (MP3EI) kicked off with Yudhoyono announcing 17 new infrastructure projects in four regions worth Rp 190 trillion.

“It all goes to show that the MP3EI is not a blank page, but there are proofs and implementations that will support the achievement and goals of this plan,” the President told hundreds of high-ranking officials and business executives at the master plan launch event at the Jakarta Convention Center in Jakarta on Friday.

The projects include nation-wide Internet broadband access, hydropower and solar power plants, a modern steel mill, a palm oil industry zone, access roads, toll roads, airports, dams, reservoirs, as well as nickel, cobalt and aluminium facilities throughout the four economic corridors of Sumatra, Java, West Nusa Tenggara—Bali and Maluku—Papua.

But, Faisal Basri, a senior economist at the University of Indonesia, said that even without the MP3EI program, some of the projects had been in the pipeline under similar programs initiated by the private sector and state-owned enterprises.

A number of similar programs have been launched, he said, citing the Special Economic Zone (KEK), the Long-Term National Development Plan and the Mid-Term National Development Plan.

Faisal said that the master plan announced by the President should be further defined so that it would not overlap with similar programs announced earlier. “The concepts are different. It could result in a snag for the government [because] one plan might not be completed when another is launched,” Faisal wrote on his Twitter account.

Under the new master plan, the government expects to generate billions of dollars in investment to boost the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) to about $4.5 trillion by 2025, which would make the country among the world’s 10 largest economies.

The investment will be needed to realize eight development programs to be carried out in six economic corridors, National Development Planning Minister Armida Alisjahbana said.

The six corridors are Sumatra for energy-related development, Java for industry and services, Kalimantan for mining, Sulawesi and North Maluku for agriculture, forestry and fisheries, Bali and Nusa Tenggara for tourism and food, and Papua and Maluku for natural and human resources.

Suryo Bambang Sulisto, chairman of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin), said the business community had committed to provide $150 billion in new investment for the MP3EI programs.

“This is the first time that the business community has been asked to be involved in the laying out of the mid- and long-term economic development — sending a strong signal, especially for foreign investors, that the government is really serious and will go all out with this master plan,” Suryo said at the launch ceremony.