Indonesia’s mining ministry has drawn up a list of 18 projects worth $38.6 billion to develop the country’s natural resources and handed them over to sovereign wealth fund Danantara Indonesia on Tuesday for potential investment.
Launched earlier this year, Danantara is Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s main vehicle to achieve his 8% economic growth target by 2029 by managing all shares of state-owned enterprises and reinvesting the dividends in commercial projects.
The development and acceleration of Indonesia’s domestic processing industries is among Prabowo’s top economic agenda priorities.
Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Bahlil Lahadalia said the fund had the capacity to finance and manage the projects.
The priority projects include eight projects for the processing of minerals and coal, two which support energy security, while the rest concern energy transition and the processing of agriculture and fishery products, Bahlil said at the handover ceremony.
The government has already carried out initial studies on the proposed projects, and transferred to Danantara for further assessment and implementation.
The list of projects include oil refineries and storage facilities, a plant to produce solar panels, biofuels for jets, as well as iron and alumina smelters, ministry officials said.
Danantara, which recently secured a $10 billion credit line, will invest in the projects if they meet the fund’s investment criteria, its CEO Rosan Roeslani told reporters.
“The financing can come from Danantara, state-owned enterprises…We can also even invite domestic or foreign private companies to make sure we can employ the best technology,” Rosan said.
(Reporting by Bernadette Christina Munthe; Writing by Fransiska Nangoy; Editing by Rachna Uppal)
