The governments of South Korea and Indonesia have signed a cooperative agreement to develop a 100 million USD National Data Centre in Batam, the Riau Islands.
South Korea’s Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) and Financial Ministry are still discussing their financial plans to cover costs of construction for the 5-hectare data centre, which will be located in Nongsa. Currently, South Korea plans to finance the costs of construction in full.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo will also be able to utilise the “digital and interconnected” data storage warehouse facility, which enhances users’ decision-making by speeding up their access to data and data analytics tools.
Johnny G. Plate, Minister of Communication and Informatics in Indonesia, noted that “we expect that [the data centre] can be conducted and completed immediately, so that the ground-breaking can be conducted.”
He added that “based on the instructions of the President, this construction will take place at the end of 2022 and will be completed within the next 18 months.”
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Prime Location for National Data Centre Development
According to Plate, the Indonesian government estimates that the National Data Centre in Nongsa’s contributions to Indonesia’s economy would enable Indonesia’s digital economy to grow to 146 billion USD by 2025, and 315 billion USD by 2030.
Furthermore, Batam is also a prime location for data centre development and the Indonesian government has important plans for Batam as a key engine of Indonesia’s digital transformation and foreign investment-driven growth.
The Indonesian government also promoted Batam as a location for one of its four planned National Data Centres because Batam has the necessary digital infrastructure for data centre development, which includes a subsea cable connecting the island to Jakarta. In addition, Batam is also close to Kalimantan, where Indonesia intends to build its new 466 trillion rupiahs (32.4 billion USD) capital which will be called Nusantara.
According to Indonesian officials’ documents, the central and regional governments across Indonesia use over 2700 data centres, but only 3% utilise cloud computing technology, which results in data quality issues. It remains to be seen whether the new National Data Centres may optimise and enhance cloud adoption by Indonesia’s central and regional governments.
Plate, who is set to visit South Korea to discuss the technicality of the partnership, affirmed the benefits the cooperative agreement would have in building up and strengthening relations between Indonesia and South Korea.
“This project is beneficial and good for Indonesia and the Republic of Korea, especially for correct and accurate decision-making process in helping the two countries develop further.”
