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THE 10th World Water Forum (WWF), which will be held in Bali, will create investment opportunities for water infrastructure development, according to an official from the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Investment.
“This (the 10th WWF) opens investment opportunities for (resolving) the water issues in Indonesia,” the ministry’s deputy for environmental and forestry management coordination, Nani Hendiarti, said at an online press conference on Tuesday (01/09), 2024.
She explained that to achieve the target of safe, equitable, and affordable access to drinking water for all levels of society by 2030, additional funds of around US$1.7 trillion are still needed.
“Currently, for the drinking water sector, investment growth, specifically in drinking water pipe access, is only 20.6 percent. Thus, to increase it to 30 percent, around Rp123 trillion (around US$7.91 billion) is needed,” she informed.
According to her, the state budget can only meet around 30 percent to 37 percent of funding needs for water infrastructure development. Therefore, a blended financing scheme is needed to cover this shortfall, including via capital sourced from investment.
Hendiarti said that a business meeting of strategic partners has been scheduled during the 10th WWF. The meeting will discuss cooperation and investment potentials related to water infrastructure development.
“After the WWF, we can strengthen and increase Indonesia’s cooperation with those strategic partners in the context of accelerating water infrastructure development,” she added.
The 10th WWF will be held from May 18–24, 2024, with the theme of “Water for Shared Prosperity. The discussions conducted during the event will cover three processes, namely thematic, political, and regional processes.
The thematic process will have six sub-themes: water security and prosperity; water for humans and nature; disaster risk reduction and management; governance, cooperation, and hydro-diplomacy; sustainable water finance; and knowledge and innovation.
The regional process will cover four regions, namely the Mediterranean, the Asia-Pacific, the Americas, and Africa.
Meanwhile, the political process will comprise meetings of heads of state, ministers, parliaments, local authorities, and basin authorities.
The 10th WWF is targeted to involve as many as 30 thousand participants, including 33 heads of state, 190 ministers from 180 countries, as well as representatives from 250 organizations that will attend 214 forum sessions. [antaranews]
