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Govt looks to universities for advice on infrastructure development
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A construction site. (Shutterstock/File)
W
ith infrastructure development crucial to the country’s achievement of its economic growth targets, a senior minister has called on universities across the country to contribute ideas on engineering and financing.
Given the necessity of infrastructure development, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said the government was now focused on ensuring sustainable development by looking for solutions to the problems that could occur during construction.
“I hope this [meeting] will increase the interest of scholars from universities across Indonesia to get involved in the planning and evaluation of infrastructure development,” Sri Mulyani said in her keynote address at the Infrastructure Summit 2019 at Padjajaran University in Bandung, West Java, on Friday.
The minister said she hoped the meeting would encourage the network of academics from 31 universities nationwide to contribute their thoughts on the engineering, legal, environmental, social and financing aspects of the country’s infrastructure development program.
Sri Mulyani, a former managing director of the World Bank, also highlighted the importance of the quality of economic growth, adding that sustainable development required more than just government spending.
Moreover, the gap between the funds needed for infrastructure development and the government funds allocated remains large.
For this reason, the minister said sustainable development required the involvement of the private sector through public private partnership (PPP) schemes.
