Bappenas-PPP Joint Office Holds Forum to Encourage Greater Public-Private Partnerships in Infrastructure Development

As an attempt to increase the participation of the private sector in Indonesia’s infrastructure development plans, the Ministry of National Development Planning/Bappenas and the Indonesia Public Private Partnerships (PPP) Joint Office organized the "Indonesia PPP Market Engagement Forum: Strengthening Public and Private Collaboration for Better Infrastructure" on Wednesday (19/10).

“The purpose of this forum is to facilitate idea exchange between the public and private sectors so that we are able to gain a deeper understanding of which PPP schemes are acceptable for sponsors, investors, and lenders, as well as future efforts to accommodate these recommendations,” said the Ministry of National Development Planning/Bappenas’ Deputy for Development Funding and Secretary of the PPP Joint Office, Scenaider Siahaan, during the Indonesia PPP Market Engagement Forum’s opening ceremony.

The forum is supported by the Government of Canada and the World Bank through the Indonesia Infrastructure Finance Development (IIFD) program that has been developed since 2015 to support Indonesia’s efforts to close the gaps of infrastructure financing.

Currently, four innovative financing schemes will act as the backbone of economic recovery efforts and long-term growth. First is the public partnership scheme, which involves cooperation between the government and business entities for infrastructure development. Second is infrastructure financing through blended finance schemes, philanthropy, international donors, climate finance institutions, and green funds. Third is the optimizing of alternative financing schemes to accelerate infrastructure development, optimize government bonds, equity funds, principal financing, and project refinancing. Fourth is the development of financing instruments for de-risking projects, providing de-risking instruments through government guarantees, and other tools to improve project bankability.

“Through this forum, we encourage more private investment including from international partners by addressing sustainability and resilience issues for better infrastructure development. We hope that sponsors, investors, and development partners feel comfortable and will be assured that Indonesia is the right place to invest in and the right place to help achieve global economic goals,” the Ministry of National Development Planning/Bappenas Director of Development Funding Sri Bagus Guritno said.

The event is also expected to help strengthen the role of the PPP Joint Office as a front office and “one stop service” which can improve and strengthen communication between the public and private sectors, as well as becoming a centralized information platform for PPP implementation in Indonesia.