Sri Mulyani Responds To Nyinyir's Parties Regarding Infrastructure Development

Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Minister of Finance (Menkeu) Sri Mulyani said that infrastructure development is very necessary for Indonesia. This is because Indonesia needs aspects of facilities and infrastructure as an important fundamental in welcoming the ideals of a developed country in 2045.

"Our infrastructure index is still far from being compared to other countries. Maybe seeing, how come it's still (building) infrastructure now? Yes, because Indonesia needs mobility, productivity, (enhancement) quality of life. This requires a lot of infrastructure," he said at the Indonesia Data and Economic (IDE) 2023 forum, Thursday, July 20.

According to the Minister of Finance, current infrastructure development seems to only occur on toll roads. More than that, he said various other important facilities had been built by the state, such as clean waterways, sanitation facilities, bridges, dams, and others.

"Look at India. Previously, billions of people did not have toilets. In the last decade, the government has made massive investments to build it," he said.

Citing the latest realization of the State Budget, it is stated that until May 31, 2023, the infrastructure development budget has reached IDR 93.7 trillion. This figure is 12.1 percent higher than the same period in 2022 of IDR 83.5 trillion.

Meanwhile, the realization of its utilization is distributed to three large bags. First, through spending on ministries/agencies (mainly the Ministry of PUPR) of IDR 46.5 trillion to build bridges, irrigation, dams, educational facilities, airports, ports.

Second, through regional expenditures (transfers to regions/TKD) of IDR 25.1 trillion which is used to build regional road networks and pipeline networks.

And the third is through financing IDR 22 trillion with a focus on building subsidized houses and land acquisition for the National Strategic Project (PSN).