Only about two months after the inauguration of President Joko Widodo's government last October, Indonesia decided to join the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) as a founding shareholder for obvious reasons.

As Southeast Asia's largest economy, yet with acutely poor and inadequate infrastructure, Indonesia badly needs to speed up its infrastructure development to improve connectivity within the vast archipelago and to connect the country with global supply chains.

The president rightly put infrastructure on top of his working programs because high quality infrastructure - from reliable power and water supplies to well built roads, seaports and airports - is central to a country's development.