Belt and Road takes ties to 'next level'

Reducing emissions

She said developing more infrastructure in other islands would improve people's quality of life, especially in rural areas. Kamdani said the BRI is aiding Indonesia's "economic decentralization", noting that several of BRI's big projects are in other areas of the archipelago.

Indeed, some of the most notable BRI projects in Indonesia are located outside of Java. The IMIP, for example, is located in Central Sulawesi while the Indonesia Weda Bay Industrial Park, or IWIP, is in the province of North Maluku. Like the IMIP, Weda Bay is an integrated nickel mining and processing zone.

Indonesia accounts for over 20 percent of the global nickel reserves and this huge resource has spurred the Indonesian government to promote the electric vehicle manufacturing industry. Nickel is one of the materials used for making batteries that power EVs.

The Batang Toru hydropower plant in North Sumatra aims to boost the country's renewable energy resources and reduce carbon emissions. The Probolinggo-Banyuwangi Toll Road in East Java, once complete, will be integrated with an existing ferry seaport that can ease traveling between the islands of Java and Bali.

Indonesia is perhaps one of the countries most closely associated with the BRI because it was in Jakarta, during a state visit in October 2013, that President Xi Jinping first proposed the idea of creating a 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. A month earlier, Xi proposed the idea of the Silk Road Economic Belt, which consists of road and rail construction, during his state visit to Kazakhstan. These two proposals would later evolve into what is now known as the Belt and Road Initiative.

Under the BRI, highways and railways, oil and gas pipelines, power networks, economic zones and industrial parks were built across Asia, Africa and Europe. These projects are expected to strengthen connectivity, boost regional cooperation and improve the people's standard of living. According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the BRI has served as an alternative source of infrastructure financing for Southeast Asian economies. The Jakarta-based think tank said the BRI also emerged at a time when the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, was promoting the Masterplan on ASEAN Connectivity.