I

ndonesia will propose six infrastructure projects for financing to the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), as the China-backed multilateral institution is slated to officially launch operations next week.

According to Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro, the projects to be proposed will focus on several sectors, namely energy, roads and drinking water.

'€œWe are going to propose those projects for the period of 2016 and 2017. Their combined costs exceed US$2 billion. For instance, the energy project is part of [state electricity company] PLN'€™s work to develop 10,000 megawatts of electricity across the country,'€ he said on Thursday.

The AIIB is a new multilateral institution comprising 57 member countries, 37 of which are Asian. It was formally established in November 2014, when 22 Asian countries gathered in Beijing, China, to sign a memorandum of understanding on the bank.

Bambang did not disclose the amount of loans that Indonesia planned to borrow, saying that some of the projects would be funded using a co-financing scheme with other multilateral institutions.

He insisted that the membership within the AIIB was key for Indonesia to expand financing options for its various infrastructure projects.

'€œAt present, our funding pool is made up of state budget funds and funds from other multilateral
institutions, such as the World Bank, ADB [Asian Development Bank] and IDB [Islamic Development Bank],'€ he said.

In 2016, the government set aside Rp 313.5 trillion ($22.59 billion) in the state budget for infrastructure projects, the second largest funding allocation after education.

During his visit to Jakarta in November, AIIB president-designate Jin Liquin said that the institution was committed to supporting the economic development of Indonesia because it had been a very active participant in various negotiations and an active supporter of the new institution.

Meanwhile, Bambang said that even though Indonesia'€™s stake within the AIIB was rather small, it was able to form a constituency of six countries, including Cambodia, Laos, Maldives, Myanmar and Sri Lanka.

Indonesia is currently listed as the eighth biggest donor within the AIIB, with paid-up capital of $672 million and a stake of 3.4 percent.

It has installed Bambang as Indonesia'€™s governor at the bank and Sofyan Djalil '€” now head of the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas) '€” as its alternate governor.

In addition to the governor position, Indonesia has also appointed Andin Hadiyanto, who is expert staff to the Finance Ministry overseeing macroeconomics, as an executive director at the AIIB.

'€œWe are looking to propose other Indonesians to fill in the positions of vice president and director general as well. It'€™ll make our communications easier,'€ Bambang said.