Worried by the shrinking value of rupiah and growing fear that the fate besetting Turkey, Argentina and Venezuela would also hit the country had forced the government to curb its ambition to carry on with its massive infrastructure development.
The government has announced it would shelve projects mainly those not yet coming to a financial close although it claimed that the country`s economy is still safe with strong fundamentals.
Governor Arsyadjuliandi said he has yet to study details of the government`s decision, adding he hopes to have information from state-owned construction company PT Hutama Karya, which holds the contract.
"I have not received the details , whether the implementation of the project is to be postponed," the governor said.
He said Hutama Karya does not have to shelve the construction of the Pekanbaru-Dumai toll road if the project is not financed with the state budget.
"If the project is financed with bank loans, I think there should be no reason for shelving it as implementation is to be carried out on the agreement between Hutama Karya and the bank," he said.
In addition, the toll road project does not need much imported components so that it will not have much impact on rupiah exchange rate, he said.
The Pekanbaru-Dumai toll road is part of the Trans Sumatra toll road project, which extended 2,700 kilometers from the northern tip and southern end of Sumatra.
The 131,475 kilometers Pekanbaru-Dumai toll road is one of the priority projects of the central government designed to be able to accommodate traffic of 3,980 vehicles every day.
By April 2018, the progress of implementation of the project worth around Rp16.211 trillion had already reached 13.082 percent.
Now, implementation of the project is the process of land clearing, solid sodding, foundation construction, and AC base course.
Earlier, the government announced a decision to shelve projects using imported materials in a bid to keep rupiah from falling deeper.
Coordinating Minister for Economy Darmin Nasution said in Jakarta that the government would announce list of infrastructure projects to be shelved.
Reporting by FB Anggoro
Editing by A Saragih. R Nasution
Reporter: Antara
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
Copyright © ANTARA 2018
