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Don’t applaud, Indonesia still lags behind other countries, says Jokowi
By the end of this year, Indonesia will have 1,500 kilometers of toll roads, almost double the number recorded in 2014.
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Ready, set, go: President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo (center) kicks off the construction of the 74 kilometer Banda Aceh-Sigli toll road as part of the trans-Sumatra toll road in December 2018 in Aceh. (Courtesy of Banda Aceh administration)
P
resident Joko “Jokowi” Widodo asked his audience not to applaud when he described the government’s success in building massive infrastructure during his first term in his remarks at the opening of Indonesia Infrastructure Week 2019 at the Jakarta International Expo (JI-Expo) on Wednesday.
Jokowi said after working day and night, the government had achieved the infrastructure development target during his first five years in office. He said by the end of the year, Indonesia would have 1,500 kilometers of toll roads, almost double the number recorded in 2014, the first year of his presidency.
“Don’t applaud[…],” the President said when he saw a number of the audience clapping.
Jokowi acknowledged that the nation was far behind other countries in infrastructure development despite the government being able to meet the road construction target. From 1978 until 2014, Indonesia had only built 780 km of toll roads. The number, he said, was considerably low compared to China’s 280,000 km and Malaysia’s 1,200 km.
In his second term, infrastructure development, in addition to human capital development, will remain the government’s top priorities.
“Even though we will prioritize human capital development, infrastructure development still needs to be accelerated,” he said.
Jokowi said the country had gone up 30 places in the infrastructure development index to 52nd place in 2019, from 82nd place in 2010.
