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ransportation Minister Ignasius Jonan pledges to give more opportunities to the private sector to develop transportation infrastructure, saying that the government could use the assistance from businesses to realize the sea highway initiative.

'€œWe are currently in the process of revising a regulation on port operation permits, so that anyone will be able to develop and operate a port. As long as it does not involve the state budget, the private sector should be able to build a port because the state budget has its limits,'€ Jonan said in a discussion with the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) on Friday.

Jonan said that under the sea highway initiative, the government was planning to increase the capacity of up to 24 seaports across the archipelago.

'€œThe government will focus on constructing ports that are not commercially viable for the private sector, to grow the economy of the country'€™s less developed areas,'€ Jonan said.

'€œSeaports that are commercially viable, for instance Cilamaya in Karawang, should be built by the private sector, since it is aimed at facilitating the movement of goods from industrial estates in surrounding areas,'€ he said.

The National Development Planning Board (Bappenas) previously said that the government would need around Rp 420 trillion (US$33.60 billion) to develop 24 seaports that were currently operated by state-owned port operator Pelindo.

Bappenas said that the 24 ports would be developed into international ports and be able to handle ships with capacities between 3,000 and 6,000 TEUs (twenty-foot-equivalent-unit), in order to boost trade access.

Jonan also said that one of the ministry'€™s initial main programs was to ease the process of granting business licenses, both to improve the country'€™s business climate and boost efficiency within the ministry.

'€œWe need to simplify the process of business licensing. For example, a business permit that currently needs to be renewed every month, would be renewed once a year,'€ he said.

Kadin chairman Suryo Bambang Sulisto said that he supported the government'€™s initiatives. However, specialized banking was essential to ensure that the private sector would be able to get affordable long-term loans for infrastructure projects, he said.

'€œAdequate infrastructure will help increase the country'€™s economic growth, therefore anyone should be able to invest,'€ Suryo said.

'€œThe problem for national business players is getting an affordable loan to fund the infrastructure projects. Because to develop infrastructure, we need at least a 10-year loan, and currently none of our state-owned banks provide this facility.'€

Suryo said that the government could also divert the state budget allocated for the fuel subsidy to give incentives to private sector players willing to develop infrastructure projects.

Presidential Working Unit for the Supervision and Management of Development (UKP4) head Kuntoro Mangkusubroto previously said that the country would need Rp 6 quadrillion for infrastructure projects over the next five years to achieve the 7 percent economic growth target.

In order to achieve the target, he said the government needed to improve its approach in managing infrastructure projects so that the private sector would become interested.