Jocelin Wijaya

The extent of alignment of infrastructure projects with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): A case study of Indonesia’s National Strategic Projects

Infrastructure is the backbone of economic and social development – transport connects workers to their jobs, schools and hospitals provide shared prosperity: education and healthcare, water infrastructure is essential for communities, and technologies connect people. Infrastructure should be planned and delivered as a system instead of individual assets to deliver its full potential. Due to its vast archipelagic nature, Indonesia has faced a logistical ‘nightmare’ due to inadequate infrastructure in both quality and quantity. With the ambitious Golden Indonesia 2045 vision, the government has been implementing a large-scale, infrastructure-first program to boost the nation’s economic growth. This program is called National Strategic Projects.

This study evaluates selected transportation projects from Indonesia’s National Strategic Projects program against the relevant SDGs and their target. This study utilises the Causal Loop Diagram (CLD) to assess the impact of four transportation projects – representing land, air and maritime modes – on relevant SDG targets. The objective is to understand how infrastructure projects contribute to or hinder SDG achievement and to identify leverage points for more sustainable outcomes.

The CLDs indicate that the selected National Strategic Projects align with the SDG target for economic growth and employment creation due to better connectivity and the construction and operation of the infrastructure asset itself. The projects also align well with the SDG for infrastructure and industrialisation. However, the development of the projects also comes with profound implications. Urban area projects exhibit misalignment with the inequality goal and mixed alignment with sustainable urbanisation because of the social impact due to land acquisition. Projects in eastern Indonesia adversely affect the land and marine environment due to their geography. It is recommended that future infrastructure development should include long-term vision and delivery plans that are informed by SDGs to ensure both green and traditional infrastructure are sustainable and resilient.