After running errands for a Jakarta printing shop all day, Syamsul takes the evening train home. The carriage is pitch dark inside, it is stifling hot and virtually impossible to move among the tangle of sweaty limbs.
"I used to sit on the roof, but not anymore. I don't want my wife to end up a widow," said Syamsul, 26, as other commuters clambered up the side of the carriage to space on the top.
Syamsul is not the only one frustrated by Indonesia's decrepit infrastructure. Foreign investors say they are increasingly concerned at faltering attempts by the government to kick-start a massive infrastructure programme.
In January, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono offered 91 projects worth $22.5 billion at a high-profile infrastructure summit that attracted hundreds of investors.
That was the first phase of a five-year plan to spend $145 billion on roads, railways, power stations, water supplies, water treatment plants, seaports, airports, gas pipelines and telecommunications infrastructure.
Eight months later, just six projects have been tendered, all tollroads, officials said. Two of those were only recently awarded while two others were withdrawn and will be re-tendered.
Businessmen said the government had been stymied by bureaucrats or state-owned firms who either opposed the involvement of the private sector in such projects or were confused by vague or incomplete regulations.
Other problems have been procuring land for projects, working out competitive rates of return, complications from devolution of power to Indonesia's regions which confuse who has authority, low tariffs that do not cover costs, and graft.
"There is a lot of disappointment that more projects haven't been tendered but the disappointment is more acute because it looks like the bureaucratic resistance is even more ferocious than anticipated," said James Castle, a prominent business consultant in Jakarta.
"My own view is that once you get a breakthrough on a few, the others will fall pretty quickly, but the first few are proving harder than anyone anticipated."
Another problem, some businessmen say, is there are few, major competitively tendered projects to use as a benchmark.
During the 32-year autocratic rule of former President Suharto, who was toppled in 1998, big infrastructure projects were sometimes awarded to companies owned by his children or close business associates with little competitive bidding.
Since Suharto fell, various cash-strapped administrations have had other priorities, from stemming violence to rebuilding the financial sector and stabilising the economy.
Raden Pardede, head of a special government infrastructure team, acknowledged the current tender process was moving slowly but said Indonesia wanted to make sure tenders were attractive.
"Land ownership and bureaucracy are the main barriers to why there are some pending projects. I want to emphasise that it is not as easy as it looks," said Pardede.
The statistics paint a grim picture for Indonesia's 220 million people.
Some 47 percent of households have no electricity and only 14 percent of the population is serviced through water utilities, the World Bank said in a major report on infrastructure last December.
Just 1.3 percent have access to a sewerage network, while fixed line telephone access covers 4 percent of the population.
In addition, public infrastructure investment dropped sharply, from $8 billion in 1994 to $1.5 billion in 2002, in the wake of the 1990s Asian financial crisis, the report added.
In Jakarta, traffic jams affect everyone. And last month a massive power cut disrupted electricity supplies to tens of millions of people on the main island of Java.
"Indonesia's infrastructure quality ranks among the lowest in the region and is affecting growth, poverty reduction, foreign investment and the environment," the World Bank said.
The country expects growth of around 6 percent this year from 5.1 percent in 2004.
Sofyan Wanandi, a prominent Indonesian entrepreneur, said the burden on business from dilapidated infrastructure was high.
"This hinders all our investment, creates a high cost economy and various other problems. It makes us less competitive," he said.
Jakarta had planned a follow-up infrastructure summit in November, but that has been put off until February.
Officials have said up to 50 percent of the $145 billion in projects would have to come from private investors.
Back on the Jakarta train, commuter Syamsul gasps for air.
At one city station, Deni, a 23-year-old mechanic, brushes off the risks before he climbs up onto the roof.
"It's so hot inside. I'll just hold on tight when it speeds," he said.
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