Minister Of PUPR UU China Dalam Proyek Infrastruktur Air Di Indonesia

PUPR Minister Basuki Hadimuljono (central) and Expert Staff of the Minister of PUPR Endra Saleh Atmawidjaja are at the Indonesian booth at the 18th World Water Congress exhibition in Beijing, China (ANTARA/Desca Lidya Natalia)

JAKARTA - Minister of Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR) Basuki Hadimuljono invited China to invest in water infrastructure projects in Indonesia and in the development of the capital city of the archipelago (IKN).

"There are some that have been going on like Peloska dam, there have been several collaborations that we have done," Basuki said on the sidelines of the 18th World Water Congress in Beijing, China, as reported by ANTARA, Monday, September 11.

Basuki was present at the 18th World Water Congress to promote Indonesia as the host of the 10th World Water Forum in 2024 as well as looking for possible infrastructure cooperation between Indonesia and China.

For IKN, Basuki said the government would continue to attract investment, including from Asian countries.

"I think we will cooperate, continue to be mobilized, continue with China, Japan, Korea, at IKN Korea to provide grants, then supervise designs for waste as well, so Korea, Japan, China, the Netherlands have started," said Basuki.

Expert Staff to the Minister of PUPR for Technology, Industry and Environment Endra Saleh Atmawidjaja said one of the missions of the Indonesian delegation to the 18th World Water Congress was to encourage infrastructure cooperation with China.

"The second mission specifically raises bilateral with China, because the Minister said there are several dams that are in cooperation, we are exploring and some are near the implementation, for example Peloska dam, Jenelata, Riam Kiwa, which will all be built with China's cooperation," said Endra.

In addition, the Ministry of PUPR also promoted IKN to China.

"China is very interested in IKN development, we can also from an infrastructure perspective, they can be used for flats that are not for ASN, but also for the public, including for foreigners and the community, meaning for investment," said Endra.

In addition to inviting China to invest in IKN, Endra said that the Indonesian delegation at the event also promoted Indonesia as the host of the 10th World Water Forum in 2024.

"So that they come, we send a lot of delegates, hoping they also come to the World Water Forum," added Endra.

The Chinese government has provided a grant of 28.19 million RMB or around Rp56.1 billion for the Pelosika Dam project in Southeast Sulawesi which began construction in 2020.

In addition to the Pelosika Dam, the Indonesian government has also collaborated with the Chinese government on the construction of three other dams, namely Jenelata Dam in South Sulawesi, Riam Kiwa Dam in South Kalimantan and Lambakan Dam in East Kalimantan.

Infrastructure cooperation between Indonesia and China began in 2002, starting with the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Chinese Ministry of Communication and the Ministry of PUPR. The MoU concerns economic and technical cooperation in the fields of bridges, roads and infrastructure projects in Beijing.

This collaboration continues to various sectors such as water resources, waste management and sanitation.