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ffective interministerial coordination is now shaping up in the Committee for the Acceleration of Priority Infrastructure Delivery (KPPIP), which is chaired by Coordinating Economic Minister Darmin Nasution. This is our main conclusion from the Infrastructure Outlook 2016 conference here on Wednesday, which was attended also by National Development Planning Minister Sofyan Djalil and Agrarian and Spatial Planning Minister and National Land Agency chair Ferry Mursyidan Baldan.

The leadership and management of the KPPIP, which has been in operation since last year, are designed to become a genuine one-stop center for priority project planning and development. Its steering committee, which is chaired by Darmin, includes the finance, agrarian and national development planning ministers. This ministerial committee is assisted by an implementation team consisting of key officials from the ministries involved in priority infrastructure projects.

The KPPIP also is supported by sectoral and intersectoral working teams, depending on the needs of the priority projects. For example, the electricity working team is led by the energy and mineral resources minister. Yet more encouraging is that the KPPIP is also supported by a project management office staffed by well-paid experts and consultants of various disciplines.

 It is the project management office that is responsible for making recommendations to the implementation team regarding the selection and implementation of priority projects, as well as problem solving. Its chief, the program director, is assisted by a team of senior experts with international experience in the airport, seaport, railway, energy, electricity and water resources sectors, among others.

The ministerial composition of the governing board, or steering committee, is strong and complete enough to ensure decision-making and problem-solving processes within the KPPIP can be firm and quick. Yet more important is that President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo himself, though he often still prefers a hands-on management style, has mandated the KPPIP as the sole agency in charge of selecting, planning, preparing and developing priority projects.

No wonder, as Darmin noted at the conference, that the KPPIP has been able to make breakthroughs in solving problems in various infrastructure projects and even in amending regulations inimical to specific infrastructure projects.

The establishment of the KPPIP is thus able to simultaneously address the main problems in infrastructure development, including overlapping regulations, poor interministerial coordination, arduous and complex land acquisition procedures, poor project design and preparation and inadequate institutional capacity of those government agencies involved in project implementation.

Yet more encouraging is the confirmation from Ferry that Law No. 2/2012 has been fully enforced in facilitating land acquisition for priority projects. He cited several projects previously held up by land acquisition problems that were now running smoothly thanks to good coordination and quick and firm decision-making by ministers and senior KPPIP officials.

Not everything is fully up and running at the KPPIP, but it has been adequately equipped, resourced and staffed to become a full-fledged single management center for priority and strategic infrastructure projects.