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Prabowo vows to build giant Java seawall despite budget cuts
“Can we do it? Yes, we can. I don’t know how long it will take, but insya Allah [God willing], with strong determination, we will make it happen," the President said on Tuesday
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President Prabowo Subianto attends the close of the 6th Democratic Party Congress at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Jakarta, on Feb. 25, 2025. (BPMI Setpres/Muchlis Jr)
P
resident Prabowo Subianto has said funding is in place for the construction of a 700-kilometer seawall from Banten to East Java to combat land subsidence along the northern coast of Java.
“Can we do it? Yes, we can. I don’t know how long it will take, but insya Allah [God willing], with strong determination, we will make it happen […]. Do not doubt it, we will start as soon as possible,” he said during a speech at the Democratic Party’s congress on Tuesday.
Prabowo has ordered widespread government budget cuts to save over Rp 306 trillion (US$18.72 billion) to finance his priority programs, namely the free nutritious meal program and the establishment of sovereign wealth fund Danantara. The cost-saving measures are expected to continue next year.
As part of the cuts, the Public Works Ministry saw its budget drop from around Rp 111 trillion to just over Rp 50 trillion.
The President also said Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono, the party’s chairman and the son of its patriarch, would have “a heavy task” in overseeing the project in his role as coordinating infrastructure and regional development minister.
According to Investment and Downstream Minister Rosan Roeslani, President Prabowo has invited Japanese companies to take part in the project. He made his pitch at a meeting with a business delegation from the Japan-Indonesia Association (Japinda) at his offices in December last year.
Rosan said the potential cooperation with Japan would remain flexible and could involve business-to-business (B2B) or government-to-government (G2G) schemes or a public-private partnership (KPBU).
