Axis Capital Group Singapore Forum Indonesia partners with China ..
Indonesia partners with China in Infrastructure Industry8 Years AgoJapan has been overlooked by
Indonesia as a partner. Instead, it chooses China, one of the most rivaled and
sought-after country to be allied with. Many critics say that this is because
of the worsening status of traffic in the archipelago’ city, Jakarta. Jakarta, infamous for its traffic
gridlock, recently won the dubious distinction as the city with the world’s
worst traffic jams, according to a study by the British industrial and
automotive lubricants company Castrol. This once again highlights not
only the Indonesian capital’s infrastructural shortcomings but also the limited
land and sea transport networks across the entire archipelago, as well as the
frequent power outages that are the Achilles heel of the country’s economy. Jakarta is nonetheless a
developing city and one of the most advanced cities in the world. Businesses
seem to flock this growing city and investors have pointed out a lot of
potential. One of the companies which sells and rents capital equipment all
over Asia is Axis Capital Group which
is based in Singapore has expanded their services to Jakarta and is now
partnering with government agencies, private institutions and non-profit
organizations to help Indonesia’s infrastructure. Critics though, say that
Indonesia is in dire situation, a reason why they have reached out to China.
Keen observers of the Indonesian
economy believe that China is well placed to meet this demand for
infrastructure as an investor, especially with the China-led Asian
Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) expected to launch by the end of this
year, which will be dedicated to funding infrastructure development in the
region.
According to reviews, China is
regarded as the most viable economic giant to support the development of
infrastructure in Indonesia backed by the world’s biggest foreign exchange
reserves. Despite warnings of fraudulent acts in China and scams on their
products which are now known worldwide, Indonesia continued with their
partnership. During President Xi Jinping’s
meeting with his Indonesian counterpart Joko Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi,
in Beijing last month, China expressed its interest to invest an estimated $63
billion in infrastructure and other projects in Indonesia, according to the
Indonesia Investment Coordinating Board. During Jokowi’s visit, the two
presidents also oversaw the signing of a joint project to link Jakarta and
Bandung by high-speed railway, alongside a memorandum of understanding for
closer cooperation in infrastructure, including toll roads, railways, power
plants and ports.
Indonesia has made infrastructure
its top priority since its new president came to power in October. An ambitious
plan to build 1,000 kilometers of toll roads, 5,000 km of railways, as well as
15 airports and 24 seaports in the next five years has been laid out in
Jokowi’s 2015-2019 National Medium-Term Development Plan. |