A

s part of efforts to boost the business of local manufacturers, the government has pledged to use more locally sourced materials for various infrastructure projects next year.

Public Works and Public Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljono expressed his regrets over what he said was a currently low level of use of local materials in government projects.

Basuki pointed out that locally sourced asphalt only made up around 3 percent of the total 1.5 million tons of asphalt used in projects.

"That makes me angry. I want to increase that to over 100,000 tons," Basuki said recently.

According to him, the ministry plans to boost the use of locally sourced natural asphalt from Buton, Southeast Sulawesi, among others.

He added that local asphalt was also of export quality, as shown by the material'€™s robust exports to China.

Meanwhile, Indonesian Asphalt Concrete Association (AABI) chairman Zulkarnain Arief lauded the government'€™s campaign to increase the use of locally sourced materials in infrastructure projects, saying that the campaign would help revive industry in the country.

Zulkarnain added that the use of more local materials would reduce the country'€™s exposure to global economic conditions. '€œWhen the US dollar strengthens and deals a blow to the price of asphalt, we won'€™t be greatly affected.'€

He also claimed that the increased use of local materials would decrease budget spending on the projects by 20 percent to 30 percent.

He said that the association expected the locally sourced asphalt from Buton would cover around 10 percent to 15 percent of the required amount by next year, and 30 percent by 2019.

The current production of asphalt is currently around 300,000 tons annually, according to the association'€™s data.

Aside from increasing the use of locally sourced asphalt, the ministry also plans to reduce the use of imported steel, especially in bridge construction projects.

Basuki said that the ministry would increase the use of steel from local steel producers, such as state-owned steel giant PT Krakatau Steel (KS), which has an annual production capacity of 3.9 million tons.

The total amount of steel used in bridges was projected to be 1.8 million tons this year, the ministry said.

This year, imported steel still accounted for a majority of that used in bridge projects, with 60 percent of the steel used in the projects being imported from overseas,

Basuki has previously said that the government wanted to reverse those figures so that the majority of steel used was sourced locally.

"We want to drive the economy in the manufacturing sector," he said.

Next year, the ministry will construct eight new dams, 769 kilometers of new roads, 29 kilometers of new toll roads and 12.7 kilometers of bridges.

The massive infrastructure development is part of the government'€™s plan to build 1,000 kilometers of new roads and 49 new dams by 2019 as part of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo'€™s vision to spur economic growth. (fsu)