President Joko Widodo, in a meeting with AIIB delegation at Bogor Palace on Monday, has expressed the government`s commitment to continue its cooperation with the AIIB.
Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati told the press after the meeting that Indonesia was among the founders of the institution, which started its operation on Jan 16, 2016.
Indonesia has also become one of the largest shareholders of AIIB.
For its early operation, Indonesia had received AIIB fund along with three other countries.
The first project, funded by AIIB, was the development of slum areas worth US$216 million in Indonesia.
"Indonesia has been the first project of their operation. It was the project of National Slum Upgrading Program. They had allocated US$216 million, along with other multilateral institutions," Sri Mulyani stated.
In 2017, Indonesia and AIIB worked on cooperation in two projects.
The first project was the development of local infrastructure that covered clean water and sanitation, flood management, waste management, and development of slum areas. The project was worth $100 million.
While in its second cooperation last year, the AIIB had funded the Dam Operational Improvement and Safety Project (DOISP) worth $125 million.
Public Work and Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljono remarked that the project has become the government`s long-term program to develop and improve its capability of managing dams in Indonesia.
"The Dam Operational Improvement and Safety Project would focus on maintaining and rehabilitating dams that have been built earlier and not build a new one," he revealed.
The ministry has suggested some irrigation projects to be included in the agenda of cooperation between Indonesia and AIIB.
"Some dam construction projects would be completed in 2018. Of course, it will need to be followed by further development to utilize the water. We have prepared the state budget, but with more dams to be completed soon, we have asked Bappenas (the National Development Planning Board) to submit this to AIIB," he pointed out.
Reported by Joko Susilo
(S022/INE)
(L.*SYS/A/KR-BSR/A014)
Reporter: SYSTEM
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2018
