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fter months of deliberation, the House of Representatives expects to pass the long-awaited land acquisition bill later this week, a legal instrument that is expected to solve a long process involving land acquisition, a legislator said.

“We will meet with the government for the final decision on Wednesday and hopefully we can pass it during the plenary session on Friday,” the bill’s special committee (Panja) deputy chief, Taufik Hidayat, told The Jakarta Post in a telephone interview on Sunday.

He said the committee still needed to make the content and the wording of the bill congruous before forwarding it to the House’s plenary session for final approval.

The House of Representatives had earlier expected to pass the bill in July or September at the latest, but failed to meet the scheduled time frame.

Committee member Nasir Jamil said that despite general approval of the finalized bill, several issues would still be critical for discussion during the next meeting with the government. According to Jamil, the issues are, among others, the role of private entities in infrastructure projects, such as toll roads, legal protection for land owners and the necessity to set up a controlling body to oversee land acquisition for development projects.

“We expect to provide legal protection for land owners and still question whether dispute settlement only at first-level courts will be enough, as the court ruling will be final and binding,” he told the Post, adding that legal protection should also cover land owners whose land was not covered by land certificates.

Under the bill, the land agency is mandated to discuss with land owners land prices proposed by an independent appraisal team.

Land owners who disagree with the price can appeal within 14 days to state administrative courts, which should issue binding rulings on the compensation settlements in 30 days at the latest.

Land acquisition has caused serious problems in infrastructure development projects in the country. Disputes over land prices and compensation often took years and caused a delay in projects in the past.

The issuance of the land procurement bill is expected to support the government’s program to develop a series of infrastructure facilities within the next five years.

Better infrastructure will help Indonesia to grow beyond 7 percent annually, Standard Chartered economist Eric Sugandi said earlier this year. Moreover, improved connectivity will also likely cut down the nation’s inflation rate to below 6 percent.

The National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) recently said that 17 infrastructure projects run under the public-private partnership (PPP) scheme, with a total value of nearly US$11 billion, have entered the tender process.

Among the 17 projects are the Central Java coal-fired power plant worth a total investment of $3 billion, Puruk Cahu-Bangkuang coal railway in Central Kalimantan; $2.1 billion, Umbulan water supply in East Java; $204.2 million, Maros Water Supply in South Sulawesi; $12.9 million, Kemayoran-Kampung Melayu toll road in Jakarta; $695.36 million, Sunter-Rawa Buaya-Batu Ceper toll road in Jakarta; $976 million, Ulujami-Tanah Abang toll road in Jakarta; $425.53 million and the Pasar Minggu-Casablanca toll road in Jakarta; $571.99 million.

However, World Bank lead economist Shubham Chaudhuri earlier this year told the Post that although a land acquisition law would be important for the acceleration of infrastructure projects, that would not be the only thing ensuring the acceleration of the development of infrastructure projects.

“The land acquisition bill will help in terms of land clearance from citizens. But, even after that, you also need to improve coordination within the government, across ministries and between the central and local government,” he warned.