Heaptalk, Jakarta— During his two terms as president, Indonesia’s President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo has constructed about 42 dams and toll roads covering an area of 2049 km.
As stated by the President during the National Development Planning Conference in Jakarta Convention Center (05/06), “We have built around 42 dams over ten years, and we are targeting to build around 60 dams by the end of this year or at minimum around 54 dams in our country,”
Besides building the toll access in the country for the last ten years, President Jokowi also conveyed that the government has established 5,833 km of national roads, around 25 new ports, and 25 new airports. However, the President said this output still needs to be increased for better infrastructure development in Indonesia.
“If the toll road has been built, I hope Bappeda can determine next the location to be connected, particularly areas with a high potential for tourism, plantations, and productive agriculture. The regional government must accomplish this development, if the region’s parties unable do that, they can report to the center,” Jokowi added.
Currently, Jokowi said that the archipelago is facing several challenges. Moreover, the global economy is only estimated to attain 3.2% due to multiple effects, notably the pandemic.
As is known, President Joko Widodo delivered that several countries are encountering the recession issue, such as Japan, the United Kingdom, and other European countries. To avoid a similar problem in Indonesia, he expected the state budget utilization to be allocated carefully based on the highest priorities scale.
“Other countries are concerned about several things, such as oil prices and loan interest. When loan interest rises, the fiscal burden will be experienced significantly. Once again, we must be careful in managing every budget,” Jokowi affirmed.
Further, Jokowi claimed that the archipelago’s government has several frameworks spanning middle-term and long-term development plans, including government work plans (RKP), in each Indonesian region. For this reason, he urged that the government strategic plan ensure well-maintained synchronization.
“Therefore, synchronization is key. For example, the central government built a dam and rebuilt the primary irrigation. Still, the secondary and tertiary irrigation to the rice fields developments were ignored, and the water did not reach the rice fields we possessed. I frequently observed the matter occurring; thus, we must accord,” Jokowi concluded.
