Q & A

Q : What infrastructure developments have been carried out by the Government in the 2014-2019 period?

A : Infrastructure built by the government in the 2014-2019 period had a connectivity purpose and infrastructure developments included 3,432 kilometers of roads, 947 kilometers of toll roads, 39.8 kilometers of bridges and 134 units of suspension bridges throughout Indonesia. This excludes the Railroad Light Rail Transit railroad in South Sumatra and light Rail Transit in Jakarta. A total of 10 (ten) airports have been completed throughout Indonesia and 19 (nineteen) seaports.

In addition to connectivity, the government is also building infrastructure to support food security. The goal is to increase the availability of food sourced from increased domestic production. Infrastructure development in this sector include the construction of 55 (fifty-five) dams that were built that have an impact on improving reservoir irrigation services by 160,000 hectares. In addition, the impact on meeting raw water requiremnts increased to 3.02 cubic meters per second and an increasing energy potential by 145 megawatts.

Telecommunications Infrastructure was done by expanding network and telecommunications coverage. One project to support the mission is the national fiber optic backbone network called “Palapa Ring”. The program connects all regency / city capitals in Indonesia using a broadband network (high-speed internet).

Q : Planned Development of support- ing infrastructure by the Government in the period 2019-2024.

A : For development plans in the period 2019-2024 the government is more focused on improving the quality of human resources. We can see this in the theme of the 74th Birthday of the Republic of Indonesia, namely “Superior Human Resources, Developed Indonesia”. Although infrastructure is still considered
an important factor for the welfare of its people, the government believes that it must be supported by improving the quality of human resources. In turn, improving the quality of human resources can only be achieved by improving education to run these technological advances.

The urgency of human resource development is a key factor in winning global competition, and because of intense competition amid uncertainty, this strategic step should receive full support from all layers of stakeholders in the government. Human resource development is a challenge for the Indonesian people when looking at data released by the World Bank, where in 2018, the World Bank stated that the quality of Indonesian human resources was ranked 87 out of 157 countries. Meanwhile, in the same year, Business World reported that human resources of Indonesia competitiveness ranked 45th out of 63 countries. This ranking is still less than the two neighboring countries, namely Singapore and Malaysia, which are respectively ranked 13th and 22nd.

Strengthening human resources and building a competitive work force has a close correlation with increased work productivity, in winning competition amid rapid changes in the world of business, the political economy and culture. We should be grateful that the current government has succeeded in building the foundation required to lead Indonesia to excel, its indicators are reflected in the massive development of infrastructure that can be a steppingstone in advancing human development.

The current commitment of the Government to strengthen human resources is reflected in the increasing budget allocation for the development of human quality. This increased funding can be seen in education, health, and social protection. In the 2018 state budget, the budget for education was already IDR 147.56 trillion, IDR 65.01 trillion health, and IDR 162.56 trillion in social protection and continues to increase until now.

With the commitment of the current administration to
the development of human resources, it now falls on the various ministries and government agencies to implement programs and policies that are in line with the great vision of human resource development. DGM