Indonesian Minister for Public Works and Housing Basuki Hadimuljono doubts that construction of the Trans-Sumatra toll road will be completed by 2019. The minister already informed Indonesian President Joko Widodo about his concern. As usual, the main issue that forms a time-consuming matter in infrastructure projects in Indonesia is land acquisition. And while land prices on Sumatra are relatively cheap, the sheer size of land that needs to be purchased for this toll road makes it a challenging process. Regarding the Trans-Java toll road, on the contrary, Minister Hadimuljono says completion by 2018 is possible.

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Two of Indonesia's state-controlled companies will acquire at least 11 toll road concessions (with a total length of 525.7 kilometers and combined value of IDR 53.5 trillion or approx. USD $4.1 billion) from the private sector in the next two years. Toll road operator Jasa Marga is expected to acquire four toll road projects with a total length of 262.3 kilometers, estimated to be worth IDR 18.4 trillion (approx. USD $1.4 billion). Meanwhile construction firm Waskita Karya plans to acquire seven toll road projects (with a combined length of 263.4 kilometers), take-overs estimated to require IDR 35.1 trillion (approx. USD $2.7 billion) of investment.

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In its bid to enhance connectivity across the Indonesian archipelago, the government of Indonesia is eager to boost toll road development. Enhanced connectivity is key to curtail the nation's high logistics costs hence improving the competitiveness of domestic businesses while also making the investment climate more attractive. Besides business interests, enhanced infrastructure development is also important from a social point of view (for example, people's access to healthcare is improved). In this column we take a look at the developments of the Balikpapan-Samarinda toll road on the island of Kalimantan.

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Indonesia's Ministry of Public Works and Housing said the government plans to offer three toll road projects to investors in the first quarter of 2016: (1) Cileunyi-Sumedang-Dawuan (Cisumdawu) in West Java, (2) Serang-Panimbang in Banten, and (3) Legundi-Bunder in East Java. These projects are part of the Indonesian government's target to add 1,000 kilometers of new toll roads up to 2019 in an effort to enhance the country's infrastructure development, hence improving connectivity across the archipelago and reduce logistics costs.

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Today, Indonesian President Joko Widodo will lay the first stone for the groundbreaking ceremony of the 2,700 km Trans-Sumatra toll road project, linking Lampung to Aceh on the resource-rich island of Sumatra (Indonesia’s second-largest island in terms of geographic size). The toll road, which is one of the key priority infrastructure projects for the Indonesian government, is estimated to require a total of IDR 300 trillion (USD $23.1 billion) of investment. Ten years after parts of the toll road were first tendered, construction can finally commence.

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The Indonesian government will speed up construction of the 2,700 kilometers-long Trans-Sumatra toll road by revising Presidential Regulation No 100/2014 on Toll Road Construction in Sumatra and by accelerating the land acquisition process. The Trans-Sumatra toll road will become the main highway on Sumatra that connects Banda Aceh in the north to Bandar Lampung in the south through 24 sections stretching across ten provinces. President Joko Widodo said that construction of the highway is to start in April 2015.

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The government of Indonesia plans to tender four projects to the private sector through the public-private partnership (PPP) scheme. The projects are the Balikpapan-Samarinda toll road, the Manado-Bitung toll road, a drinking water supply in Semarang, and the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport Railway. Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Economics Sofyan Djalil said that three out of the four projects, all considered priority projects by the government, are to be offered to the private sector at the end of 2015.

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In the past ten years, Indonesia has seen its toll roads expand by about 300 kilometers only. In 2004, the total length of the country's toll road network was 611 kilometers. In 2014, it reached a length of 918 kilometers. This slow growth of toll road development is alarming as the lack of quality and quantity of infrastructure is one of the major bottlenecks for Indonesia's economic development. (as subsequent high logistics costs put off investors). The difficulty of land acquisition is possibly the most notorious stumbling-block for infrastructure development.

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The government of Indonesia announced on Tuesday (24/12) that increased levels of foreign direct investments will be allowed in the country’s airports, pharmaceutical industries, power plants, and toll roads. The revision of Indonesia's Negative Investment List (Daftar Negatif Investasi), the list which stipulates which sectors are closed (or partly closed) to foreign investment, is conducted in order to attract more foreign investments from abroad as a means to combat slowing economic growth in Southeast Asia's largest economy.

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About one week ahead of the APEC Economic Leaders' Week in Bali, Indonesia's President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono inaugurated the 12.7-kilometer long toll road in Bali on Monday (23/09). The toll road, which runs almost entirely on viaducts above the sea, consists of a north-south route from the city of Denpasar to Nusa Dua, as well as a branch to the Denpasar airport (Ngurah Rai International Airport) and a connection to the port of Benoa. Operator of the Bali toll road is Jasamarga Bali Toll, a consortium of state-controlled companies.

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Government-led infrastructure development is regarded by most analysts and policymakers as the key to overcome Indonesia’s slowing economic growth as infrastructure development will cause a multiplier effect in the economy (triggering growth in other industries such as cement and property while job availability grows accordingly). In the second quarter of 2015, Indonesia’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth slowed to 4.67 percent (y/y), a six-year low.

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Before the second and final term of Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has finished on 20 October 2014, the groundbreaking of a total of 13 infrastructure projects should have been conducted. These 13 projects are diverse ranging from toll roads to steam power plants and the extension of the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport located nearby Jakarta. One of these 13 projects - the IDR 9.65 trillion Trans Sulawesi Railway project - has already had its groundbreaking in mid-August 2014.

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The local government of North Sumatra stated that a number of foreign investors have shown interest to participate in the tender for the construction of the Kuala Namu-Tebing Tinggi toll road. The toll road will connect the new Kuala Namu International Airport to the city of Tebing Tinggi, approximately 30 kilometers from North Sumatra's capital city of Medan. Kuala Namu is designed as Indonesia's air traffic hub for Southeast Asia as it has a more strategic location to Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Bangkok compared to Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta airport.

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In 2015, Indonesia's Ministry of Public Works will start with the land acquisition process for the construction of the Trans-Sumatra Highway. This highway is a 2,732.2 kilometers-long toll road connecting Banda Aceh in the north of Sumatra to Bandar Lampung in the south through 23 routes that connect ten provinces. The total land area that needs to be acquired is roughly 218,976 million m² and is expected to cost around IDR 15 trillion (USD $1.3 billion). By 2025, construction of the project should be finished.

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The position of consultant, tasked to conduct a feasibility study for the Jakarta-Surabaya toll road, will be tendered in early 2014. The realization of the Jakarta-Surabaya toll road, a 775 kilometer-long toll road that is built above the sea (along the coast line between Jakarta and Surabaya), is an ambition of the Indonesian government and expected to ease the difficulty of transportation on Java, Indonesia's most populous island. The feasibility study should explore the technical and environmental framework related to the establishment of the toll road.

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In order to improve Indonesia's intra-island connectivity on Java (and thus reduce logistics costs that are due to fragile infrastructure), the government is planning to build a toll road above the sea from the capital city of Jakarta in the western part of Java to Surabaya in East Java. Both these cities are Indonesia's centers of industrial productivity and economic growth. The 775 kilometer-long toll road, which is expected to cost about IDR 150 trillion (USD $13.3 billion), will be build by a consortium of 19 Indonesian state-owned enterprises.

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The release of Indonesia's April deflation figure (0.10%) and orderly May Day demonstrations provided a good environment for investors to continue purchasing Indonesian stocks (despite uncertainty about Indonesia's subsidized fuel policy. Moreover, positive Asian stock indices - in combination with positive European openings on Wednesday - made the Indonesia Stock Index (IHSG) rise to a new record level of 5,060.92 points on Wednesday (01/05/13), a 0.53 percent gain.

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