Infrastructure & Transport

Inadequate infrastructure has long been a challenge for Indonesia, the world’s largest archipelagic state. With more than 17,000 islands and a population of around 265m, it may be the most complicated country in the world in terms of logistics. Since President Joko Widodo was inaugurated, transport and infrastructure investment has become a key pillar of the Indonesian government’s policy agenda. The scale of infrastructure investment under “Jokowinomics” significantly exceeds that of previous administrations. Among the administration’s initial aims was the construction of 1000 km of toll roads, over 3000 km of railways, 15 airports, 24 seaports, 33 dams and power plants to supply 35,000 MW of energy, altogether costing some $355bn. A further 2650 km of new non-toll roads are targeted in the government’s National Medium-Term Development Plan 2015-19. This chapter also contains interviews with Luhut Panjaitan, Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs, and Bambang Brodjonegoro, Minister of National Development Planning.