RI-Timor Leste to continue cooperation in Infrastructure
This article has been translated by PwC Indonesia as part of our Indonesia Infrastructure News Service. PwC Indonesia has not checked the accuracy of, and accepts no responsibility for the content.
Investor Daily : RI-Timor Leste Lanjutkan Kerja Sama Infrastruktur
3 September 2019
Jakarta – Public Works and Public Housing (PUPR) Minister Basuki Hadimuljono stated that his agency had improved cooperation in the infrastructure sector with Timor Leste’s Infrastructure Ministry.
“The Indonesian government has made a strong commitment to continue helping and establishing a cooperation with Timor Leste, especially in infrastructure and human resource development,” Basuki said during a press conference received in Jakarta on Monday (2/9).
Basuki revealed that establishing the cooperation was in his capacity as Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s representative to attend the 20th anniversary of Timor Leste’s independence referendum in Dili, Timor Leste.
The next day on Saturday (31/8), Minister Basuki accompanied by Ambassador of Indonesia to Timor Leste Sahat Sitorus and other delegation members hold a meeting with Timor Leste’s Public Works Minister Salvador Soares dos Reis Pires to discuss cooperation improvement in the infrastructure sector, which includes construction as well as human resource development.
Indonesia’s PUPR Ministry has established a close cooperation with Timor Leste’s Infrastructure Ministry in the infrastructure sector. The cooperation is based on the MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) on cooperation in the infrastructure sector between Indonesia’s PUPR Minister and Timor Leste’s Infrastructure Minister which has been signed on 22 March 2011 and has been revised to become the MoU on cooperation in Infrastructure, Public Works, Housing, Urban Development, and Region which has been signed on 10 July 2017.
The established cooperation can be seen in a form of trainings, provision of experts, internship programs, infrastructure constructions (bridges), and sharing of experiences in building roads and bridges, housings, as well as managing and planning drinking water systems and construction services.
During the occasion, both ministers agreed to extend the MoU which would have expired by December 2019.
Based on decades of experience and an extensive knowledge of NTT (East Nusa Tenggara) and Timor Leste, Minister Basuki suggested that Timor Leste needed at least two dams to process water, so the country can achieve food independence.
Minister Soares agrees with Minister Basuki’s suggestion and hopes that Indonesia can send dam experts to his country. In NTT, the Indonesian government has built seven dams to handle water management issues.
Minister Basuki is ready to help and is offering Minister Soares to visit Temef Dam in Kefamenanu, Northern Central Timor Regency to observe dam construction techniques.
