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apan is targeting mega-infrastructure projects in Indonesia such as airports, ports and highways in a bid to strengthen its presence and help accelerate the nation'€™s infrastructure development.

Japan'€™s Construction, Engineering, Real Estate, Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Deputy Vice-Minister Koichi Yoshida said that the infrastructure market in Indonesia was promising, as it was projected to continue enjoying healthy growth in the future.

'€œThe economy is healthy here; plus this is a vast archipelago that will need more development. The geological characteristics of Indonesia, which are similar to Japan'€™s, are also a plus point, because we have the technology and knowledge on how to build solid infrastructure that will suit your country,'€ Yoshida said in Jakarta on Thursday on the sidelines of the eighth Indonesia'€“Japan Construction Conference.

Japan'€™s government has yet to decide on specific new projects that it wants to work on at the moment, but he said that it would be more aggressive in capturing Indonesia'€™s infrastructure market. The ministry'€™s director for international affairs division Takaaki Kobayashi said that expanding projects overseas was important as Japan has seen a decrease in local infrastructure projects every year.

Kobayashi said that the Japanese government promoted the measure to develop overseas expansion under the public-private partnership (PPP) program, which would amount to ¥30 trillion (US$297.27 billion) by 2020 worldwide.

At the moment, its construction orders overseas have reached around ¥10 trillion.

'€œIndonesia is our fourth largest market for the construction sector throughout 2012, with projects worth Â¥1.056 trillion,'€ he said, adding that the figure was going to increase in the future as Japan was looking at more projects in the archipelago.

Its current projects include the mass rapid transit (MRT) in Jakarta, expansion of the country'€™s main seaport Tanjung Priok, expansion of Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, maintenance of sewage treatment facilities and repairing drainage pump stations.

Its data also predicted that infrastructure demand in 29 countries across Asia including Fiji, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Taiwan and Thailand stood at $8 trillion from 2010-2020, showing potential for Japan to tap into future demand.

The Public Works Ministry'€™s construction division head Hediyanto W. Husaini said that Japan showed interest in participating in the planned Kertajati International Airport in West Java, projected to cost over Rp 5 trillion ($427.27 million), as well as the Jakarta-Bekasi-Karawang water supply project worth Rp 1.8 trillion and electrical transmission works in North Sumatra, estimated to absorb Rp 4.2 trillion investment.

'€œWith this forum, we offer all infrastructure development under the MP3EI [Master Plan for the Acceleration and Expansion of Indonesia'€™s Economic Growth] projects that need investment of around Rp 2,000 trillion until 2025. This is a win-win solution because we need to accelerate our economic growth through infrastructure projects, while Japan needs to expand its infrastructure market due to the declining local market,'€ Hediyanto said.

He also said that Japan was interested in expanding its projects to eastern parts of Indonesia where the government and private sector plan to build new ports and toll roads to help strengthen maritime and land connectivity.