The government claims that 2022 will be a key year in pursuing the achievement of medium and long-term economic growth targets. The reason is that this year is the starting point for post-pandemic economic recovery, and increasing economic competitiveness, which was corrected some time ago due to the Covid-19 pandemic. "In the National Long-Term Development Plan (RPJPN), the Indonesian economy is targeted to be included in the Upper-Middle Income category in 2025," said Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Airlangga Hartarto said at the signing of the tender package contract/early selection of the Ministry of PUPR for the 2022 fiscal year, Monday (24/1/2022). In addition to efforts to accelerate infrastructure development, especially in 2022 which is a key year, the quality of planning, implementation of development, as well as operation and maintenance of infrastructure must also always be improved. The goal is to create value for money from the process of providing infrastructure. In addition, the impact of infrastructure development is expected to be felt directly for the community, such as in activities to fulfill basic needs of the community, increase access to connectivity and mobility, increase energy and food infrastructure, as well as equitable distribution and application of technology and communication infrastructure. "I also want to express my appreciation and appreciation to the Minister of PUPR and all of his staff, for their hard work, commitment, and cooperation so far, who have continued to struggle and focus on accelerating development and provision of infrastructure in Indonesia, to encourage national economic growth," said Airlangga.
Government Effort
To achieve the 2022 economic growth target of 5.2 percent, Airlangga said the role of infrastructure development is very important as one of the driving wheels of the national economy. In addition, infrastructure also has an important role in leveraging the world perception index (business) towards determining the right investment location, which is quantitatively stated in the ranking of the ease of doing business index (EoDB). "To realize the transformation of the economy and EoDB, we hope that there will be an increase in national infrastructure by 49.4 percent of GDP by the end of 2024. This is certainly achieved with the National Strategic Project," he said. In addition, efforts to improve the quality of local human resources, especially various activities related to infrastructure, are an opportunity to employ domestic capabilities, domestic engineers, and domestic contractors. Collaboration and synergy are the keys so that we can continue to work together, in finding solutions for creative funding sources. "So that we can reduce the burden of our dependence on the APBN, one of which is through the use of infrastructure that has been built (asset recycling)," he concluded.
