SoftBank Group founder Masayoshi Son will no longer be an investor in Indonesia’s $34 billion project to build the new capital in East Kalimantan as the country turns its focus on Middle Eastern and Chinese investors, Bloomberg reported on Friday.

“There’s no more story on Masayoshi, he’s out,” according to Coordinating Minister for Investment and Maritime Affairs Luhut Panjaitan in an interview on Wednesday.

Luhut didn’t say why talks have ended. A Tokyo-based spokesperson at SoftBank Group was not available to comment, Bloomberg said.

It wouldn’t be the first time Son has backpedaled from costly government-led initiatives. SoftBank and Saudi Arabia signed a memorandum of understanding in 2018 for a $200 billion solar power development -- far larger than any comparable project at the time -- that ultimately stalled, Bloomberg wrote.

In January, 2020, Son met President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and expressed an interest in participating in the new capital project.

He has been appointed to the steering committee overseeing the capital city’s construction together with Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Zayed and former United Kingdom prime minister Tony Blair.

The Japanese billionaire is a major investor in well-known technology companies such as international marketplace Alibaba and coworking space WeWork, as well as ride-hailing app Grab.

The United Arab Emirates and the United States had also expressed interest in funding a new capital city in North Penajam Paser and Kutai Kertanegara regencies in East Kalimantan, to diversify away from and ease the burden of the densely populated Jakarta and the broader Java Island.

Source:
courtesy of THE JAKARTA POST

by Agencies

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