A deal was signed between Indonesia and China as world leaders met in Bali two weeks ago for the APEC summit, for a huge 69 trillion Rupiah (over 6 billion US$) investment deal, which obviously has the potential to bring huge changes to Papua and Kalimantan. Below is a report translated from tabloid Jubi. Other media have quoted Papua Governor Lukus Enembe as stating that aside from infrastructure development, energy and gas is also part of the deal.
69 Trillion Rupiah For Papua and Kalimantan
Jayapura, 10/10 Funds worth 69 trillion Rupiah have been obtained as the result of a bilateral co-operation for investment in Indonesia, agreed between Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and the President of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping. The money is destined for provinces in Papua and Kalimantan.
“This 69 trillion Rupiah from China is to be invested in Papua and Kalimantan. We don’t yet know how much of it China is going to invest in the Land of Papua,” said the Chief of Public Relations and protocol of Papua’s Provincial Secretariat, F.X. Mote to reporters in Jayapura on Thursday 10th October.
This budget has been allocated as an investment from the Chinese Government to develop Papua, in particular hard and soft infrastructure. Hard infrastructure means roads and bridges, ports, electricity, clean water and so on.
Meanwhile soft infrastructure means improving the quality of human resources across various sectors, such as education, health, engineering and so on. “This is also proof that the Papuan Provncial Government is making integrated plans for the future together with the Chinese Government, and is building Papua in the spirit of mutual assistance.” he explained.
To that end the Papuan Governor hopes that all local government units and stakeholders throughout Papua Province will move quickly to plan programs that are in accordance with the MoU signed between the two governments.
Aside from that, his wish is that all parties will ensure their local environments are secure and welcoming, so that all investment programs which are focussed on the Papuan people can run optimally, increasing the dignity of the Papuan people, aiming for a Papua that is advancing, autonomous and prosperous.
Previously, the Vice President Director of the Indika Energy Group, Arsjad Rasjid had explained that this was an attempt to build up a working relationship between China and Indonesia. Because at this time that is what China is also seeking. Since China has become over-capacity, it has to look for ways to invest beyond its borders.
“After realising this, one area which especially caught their interest was Indonesia, and Papua in particular. That is where development could really be a big help due to China’s experience in the economic sector, and the infrastructure development which they have carried out so rapidly over the least 20 years,” said Arsjad.
Their focus will be to develop Papua’s infrastructure. Because the infrastructure sector is being pushed now everywhere, as well as Indonesia in particular. If infrastructure is improved, many things become easier.
“There are two kinds of infrastructure, soft and hard. Hard means building roads, power stations ports and so on, while soft refers to human development and education. So that means we will try to develop these two kinds of infrastructure in Papua – both natural resources and human resources. However, this requires quite a long process, from the initial planning we have to do now. Apart from that we also have to see how the process of co-operating with local governments will pan out, and how they will see this”, he explained.
Source: http://tabloidjubi.com/2013/10/10/dana-69-triliun-untuk-papua-dan-kalimantan/