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any state-owned enterprises (SOEs) are expected to put on hold projects that were initially planned to be realized using state capital injections (PMN) as no alternative sources of funding are available.

PT Pelabuhan Indonesia (Pelindo) III president director Djarwo Surjanto said his firm would almost certainly delay the construction of nine ports in eastern Indonesia, including Bima in West Nusa Tenggara and East Nusa Tenggara'€™s Kalabahi and Waingapu.

'€œThose small ports are not bankable so I can'€™t get loans from banks to fund their construction,'€ he said on the sidelines of an SOE forum in South Jakarta.

He added that his company had other options, such as seeking bank loans and increasing the profitability of existing larger ports, whose profits could be allocated to build the small ports, but such efforts took time.

'€œA state capital injection [PMN] could actually accelerate the building of the ports to better connect Indonesia'€™s eastern regions,'€ he said.

Pelindo III had planned capital expenditure (capex) of around Rp 5 trillion (US$361.65 million) next year, of which 70 percent would be sourced from loans.

The government had proposed that Pelindo III would get a PMN of Rp 1 trillion in the 2016 state budget. However, the disbursement of the funds, along with injections for dozens of other SOEs worth Rp 40.42 trillion in total, was put on hold by the House of Representatives.

Lawmakers argued that the figure set for 2016 was too high and that this year'€™s PMN had not been optimally disbursed.

The capital recipients list shows that 24 SOEs were due to receive the funds, such as electricity company PLN, which was slated to receive Rp 10 trillion in fresh funds, infrastructure financing firm PT Sarana Multi Infrastruktur (SMI) and construction firm PT Wijaya Karya, which would obtain Rp 4.16 trillion and Rp 4 trillion, respectively.

Some of the SOEs received similar PMN under this year'€™s scheme, which amounted to Rp 64.88 trillion.

Meanwhile, PT Angkasa Pura II (AP II) president director Budi Karya Sumadi said the disbursement postponement had forced his firm to seek other sources of funding or to delay several projects.

'€œInitially, we planned to use the capital to fund the construction of the third runway at Soekarno-Hatta airport in Jakarta,'€ he said.

AP II allocated around Rp 5 trillion for next year'€™s capex, of which only 20 percent would be sourced internally.

SOEs Minister Rini Soemarno said that her office was finalizing a roadmap to expand the enterprises without the capital injections but by other means, such as asset revaluation and tax incentives.

'€œI met with the finance minister earlier this week and he was sure that the capital injection could be carried out without using cash,'€ she said.