Courtesy of NikkeiAsia, a report on Indonesia’s $31bn new capital development project on Borneo which is seeking Chinese and other investment:

Chinese businesses want to be a part of Indonesia’s ambitious multibillion dollar capital relocation project, as officials struggle to draw investment pledges from foreign companies elsewhere.

The Indonesian government aims to move the capital from Jakarta to the island of Borneo, and it plans to have a new presidential palace built there by early 2024. While the country is still developing basic infrastructure at the site in the still-remote city of Nusantara, and investors remain wary, Chinese companies say they can help.

One is Guandong-based Shenzhen KoronSoft, which offers water loss management systems utilizing big data and artificial intelligence.

“We are professional[s] in water management,” Xu Jiaxin, a company representative, told Nikkei Asia on Wednesday, the opening day of the Indonesia-China Smart City Technology and Investment Expo, where more than 20 Chinese and Indonesian companies set up exhibits.

Having established itself in China, Xu said Shenzhen KoronSoft is now seeking opportunities in foreign markets, including Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia. “People here need our technology,” Xu said when asked if the company is interested in investing in Nusantara. She added that the company’s water management technology is a good fit for a country such as Indonesia, with its sprawling geography.

The three-day exhibition comes as Indonesian President Joko Widodo works to reassure investors that the huge project is on track. But since Japan’s SoftBank Group pulled out in March last year, no major new investment pledges have been announced.

“We are seeking [to find out] what kind of demand is … there [in Nusantara],” said Cipto, a representative of Guandong Flying Cloud Computing. The Chinese company plans to enter the Indonesian market this year and hopes to sell its array of robots, which include mobile ones, for use in the new capital city.

Cipto, who like many Indonesians uses a single name, said that the company’s security and reception robots can be used in places like government offices, hospitals and shopping malls. Asked about the significance of the Indonesian market, he said, “Indonesia’s population is big, it’s fourth-largest [in the world], and [the] government is working on improving technology.”

Some Chinese companies, however, are taking a wait-and-see approach to the project.

Bayu Indra Hartono, business manager at Runjian, which provides telecommunications technology including network construction and maintenance, hopes its security package is selected for the capital project. But the company wants to see more progress, “as road and infrastructure development are still ongoing,” Bayu added.

An Indonesian government official tacitly acknowledged such concerns. For the relocation, “Investment will run from August to September, after the basic infrastructure is completed,” Minister of Investment Bahlil Lahadalia told reporters at the expo. “Currently, the investment is for basic infrastructure from the government because it is impossible for private investment to enter if the basic infrastructure is not clear.”

So far, the government says it has received more than 200 letters of intent from companies from 17 countries interested in taking part in building Nusantara. Of the 466 trillion rupiah ($31 billion) in expected construction costs, plans call for 80% to be funded by outside sources such as the private sector and rich-county governments.

When Widodo met Chinese President Xi Jinping last year, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Beijing hopes to actively engage in the construction of the new capital, as well as an industrial zone in the region.

Gan Qiuling, CEO of the China-ASEAN Information Harbor, one of the expo’s organizers, said the event “allows Chinese smart city companies to come to ASEAN countries… in accordance with the Belt and Road and Digital Silk Road,” referring to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and two major Chinese infrastructure investment initiatives being promoted by Xi.