"The changes will be enacted by the Coordinating Ministry of Economic Affairs Regulation No. 9 of 2022, currently in the drafting process, and will be published soon," Coordinating Ministry of Economic Affairs' Deputy for Regional and Spatial Development Coordination Wahyu Utomo stated in a media briefing observed here on Tuesday.
Updates on the National Strategic Projects' list include removal and addition of projects as well as nomenclature changes, he remarked.
Utomo noted that one of the projects removed from the list is the Tiro Dam in Aceh, whose development was hindered by continued protests by residents that made it impossible to complete the project by the first semester of 2024 as per President Joko Widodo's (Jokowi's) target.
The Cikarang-Bekasi (CBL) Inland Waterway Canal project in West Java was another project removed from the list, he noted, adding that the revocation was made by recommendations from the Transportation Ministry and PT Pelindo, as the project executor.
"The CBL project study is still not completed until now. Hence, the project was removed from the National Strategic Project list," the ministry deputy noted.
He said that the Tanjung Api-Api Special Economic Zone development project in Banyuasin, South Sumatra, was also revoked from the list due to the lack of progress, which compelled the government to strip the region of the special economic zone status.
Meanwhile, Utomo noted that new strategic projects included in the new coordinating ministry's regulation will fulfil several criteria on job creation, downstream process, and private funding.
Despite not revealing the included projects, as the regulation is under the drafting process, he affirmed that projects on the updated list could be completed according to their timetable.
"We hope that in 2022, we would have some 20 projects completed, but this is merely our assumption based on the current progress, as other issues might occur in future. Hence, we do not perceive this as certainty, but we will continue our monitoring and work," Utomo remarked.
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Translator: Agatha Olivia V, Nabil Ihsan
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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