Today, 13 December 2021, a meeting was held in BIA between the Vice President of the Bulgarian Industrial Association Maria Mincheva and Rusmin Lawin, deputy chairman for foreign relations of Real Estate Indonesia (REI). The meeting was also attended by Ivan Velkov, Chairman of the Management Board of BGFMA and member of the Board of BIA and Asen Makedonov from FIABCI Bulgaria.
During the meeting, the project for the construction of the new capital of Indonesia was presented and the possibilities for participation of Bulgarian companies were discussed. 80% of the infrastructure will be built on the principle of public-private partnership and the government is seeking international cooperation with companies from Europe, Asia and North America. Indonesia, which has been considering the idea for decades, will be the third country in Southeast Asia to move its capital after Malaysia and Myanmar.
The Indonesian government is taking the move to ease pressure on a congested, polluted and overcrowded Jakarta that will affect more than 400 000 people. A new capital would also be a way to symbolically centralize the government.
The country already has experience with such large-scale projects and is guided by the philosophy that when the state does not have the necessary funds, the private sector intervenes. There are currently 30 private-sector-built cities in Indonesia where the state provides accommodation for the local population. Eastern cultures view real estate as a hedge fund for companies, and the sector is a significant part of the industry and accounts for approximately 10% of GDP.
According to Mr. Lawin, the pandemic has only delayed relocation plans for the capital, but has not thwarted them. Indonesia is currently working on the project, and restrictions on the real estate sector are minimal due to the large population. There are 4 ministries in the country, dealing with issues in the field of construction and real estate and over 6000 companies, members of entrepreneurial associations in the field.
The representatives of BIA expressed readiness to assist in the efforts to deepen the relations between the two countries in order to reveal their economic potential.
