ADB commits US$2.6 billion to support Indonesia in 2019

• May 02, 2019

Asian Development Bank (ADB) has committed US$2.6 billion this year to support Indonesia, primarily in developing infrastructure projects, said Ramesh Subramaniam, the ADB director general of the Southeast Asian department in Fiji on Wednesday.

ADB plans to help finance two large power plant projects using policy-based loans. One will be a power plant project that costs $600 million and which will be built in Papua.

“There is also another $600 million project loan for a gas-fired power plant project that we have been working on with PLN,” he said in Fiji on Wednesday, referring to Indonesia’s state-owned electricity company.

Besides that, ADB is also committed to financing smaller projects related to the development of renewable energy, waste management and water supply sanitation, particularly at the local government level, across the country.

In addition, ADB plans to provide more funding to support disaster recovery in Palu, Central Sulawesi. Last year, the international organization pledged $1 billion for disaster-recovery programs in Indonesia.

“In order to carry that forward […] we are working on a new project loan, which needs board approval in late May,” he said.

The loans will be used to improve Palu’s infrastructure such as roads, water sanitation and irrigation facilities that were shattered as a result of the soil-liquefaction phenomenon.

In 2018, ADB committed $3.9 billion for 19 projects in Indonesia. One of the projects included helping 120,000 rural households get connected to electricity and upgrading 24,000 kilometers of rural roads. (evi)

Source: https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2019/05/01/adb-commits-us2-6-billion-to-support-indonesia-in-2019.html