The state-owned tourism management enterprise Indonesia Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) has obtained funding from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) to build Infrastructure in the Special Economic Zone (KEK) in Mandalika, West Nusa Tenggara in the island of Lombok. This is the first AIIB financing for tourism Infrastructure development in the world.
The funding secured to finance the Mandalika Urban & Tourism Infrastructure Project (MUTIP) is USD 248.4 million. It has a tenure of 35 years and grace period of 10 years with interest rate set on par with the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) of 6% and 1.4% additional rate per year. The remaining amount required for the project, at USD 68.1 million, will be financed by the government of Indonesia.
Development of Infrastructure and basic facilities in Mandalika will include road, clean water, sanitary and drainage, waste treatment, power distribution, disaster risk management and several other public facilities. Furthermore, there are plans to develop star-rated hotels, with more than 10 thousand rooms, convention center, golf course, retail mall, theme park, hospital and street rate circuit for world-class races.
While Lombok is becoming increasingly popular with foreign and domestic visitors, this growth has not been accompanied by comparative increases in accommodation and tourism-related Infrastructure. The limited development till now has been haphazard. The Mandalika project site is strategically located on the south coast of Lombok island in Central Lombok Regency, with good access from the Lombok International Airport. It is hoped that the development of tourism Infrastructure in the region will generate more than 50 thousand jobs within the next 25 years.
(Sources: Antara News; Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank)
