Completely Untouched, 58 PSN Projects at Risk of Termination

As many as 58 projects that have not been started at all are at risk of being removed from the list of National Strategic Projects (PSN). These projects have been given until 2024 to be completed.

According to CNN Indonesia, Wahyu Utomo, Deputy for Regional Development and Spatial Planning Coordination at the Coordinating Ministry for the Economy, said his office is continuously striving to ensure that all development projects included in the PSN list can be implemented.

However, he acknowledged that physical completion may not be achievable within this year. Nevertheless, he stated that the projects should at least meet three requirements: completing land acquisition, obtaining permits, and securing financing.

"Physical completion may not be achieved, but the important thing is that they are started and guaranteed not to be stalled. That's why the President requested these three requirements: financing is available, land acquisition is mostly complete, and permits are obtained," Wahyu said during a media briefing at the Coordinating Ministry for the Economy on Thursday (13/7/2023).

If these three requirements are met, Wahyu continued, the development projects will continue regardless of the future leadership. Conversely, if any of the three requirements are not met, it is possible that the untouched projects will be removed from the PSN.

"If these requirements truly cannot be met, then it's up to the President to decide. That's his prerogative, not mine. But if there's a potential (to remove from PSN), as early as 2017, some projects were removed in 2018. So, we'll see how the President views this," he said.

The untouched PSN projects include, among others, MRT Phase II, the Jakarta-Surabaya semi-high-speed rail, Ambon Port, Trans Sumatra Toll Road Phase II, Bocimi-Sukabumi Toll Road, and Getaci Toll Road.

Overall, 158 PSN projects had been completed by July 11, 2023, with a total value of Rp1,102.6 trillion. The most recent PSN project completed and inaugurated by President Joko Widodo is the Cisumdawu Toll Road.

The target for completion in 2023 is 25 projects out of 30 planned projects for this year.

"This year, our target is 30, but 5 projects have already been completed. So, we hope that by December, there will be an additional 25 projects completed this year," said Wahyu.