SoftBank to invest $40 billion in Indonesia

SoftBank has offered to invest up to $40 billion in the new capital city Indonesia plans to build on Borneo island, a minister said on Friday, though the Japanese tech conglomerate said no figure had been suggested yet. Indonesian President Joko Widodo announced in August plans to move the administrative capital to East Kalimantan province, on Borneo, to relieve Jakarta from “a heavy burden” due to overcrowding and pollution.

Indonesia has previously put the cost of moving the capital at $33 billion, but Luhut Pandjaitan, Indonesia’s coordinating minister for maritime affairs and investment, said Softbank Group Corporation had offered up to $40 billion.

“So we’ll negotiate over the structure of the investment. It could amount to $30-40 billion,” he told reporters.

A spokeswoman for SoftBank said the group had not suggested specific numbers, echoing comments by CEO and founder Masayoshi Son last week.

“We’re not dicussing the specific numbers yet, but a new smart city, newest technology, clean city, with a lot of AI (artifical intelligence), that’s what I’m interested in supporting,” Son said during a visit to Jakarta last week.

Pandjaitan said he would discuss the potential investment further with Son further on Monday at the World Economic Forum gathering in the Swiss resort of Davos and that President Joko Widodo will likely decide on the agreement in February.

Reuters