Jakarta. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has promised to back his Indonesian president Prabowo Subianto’s dream of building 3 million affordable homes a year.

Erdogan announced Turkiye’s support for one of Prabowo’s signature programs when he came to the Bogor Palace for some bilateral talks on Wednesday. Prabowo wants to build 2 million affordable homes in rural areas and another 1 million in cities a year as the country’s population struggles with a housing shortage. This ambitious plan is open to foreign investors. A 64-point leaders’ joint statement published after the Prabowo-Erdogan meeting showed Turkiye’s interest in the government housing goal.

“Turkiye expressed willingness to contribute to Indonesia’s development plans, particularly in its initiative to provide 3 million affordable housing per year for low-income families,” the document wrote. 

“... By introducing business capabilities of the Turkish contracting sector in the development of efficient and sustainable housing solutions.”

Despite Erdogan’s promise, the Bogor Palace talks ended without any actual memorandum of understanding (MoU) that specifically targeted the housing project. Neither leader explicitly talked of the program in the press briefing. However, both presidents expressed intent to bolster ties across various sectors. 

Erdogan’s statement on infrastructure cooperation put more emphasis on the multibillion-dollar capital relocation. Indonesia is currently constructing an entirely new capital from scratch in East Kalimantan -- a separate megaproject that is often dubbed as Former President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s legacy. 

“We are committed to take part in [Indonesia’s new capital] Nusantara development by involving our world-class construction companies,” Erdogan told reporters.

Prabowo’s younger brother and national housing task force head Hashim Djojohadikusumo had already revealed to the press of Turkiye's interest. Hashim claimed that a Turkish private company would invest in 50,000 low-cost residential units without mentioning the name of the investor.

To date, Qatar is the first and only foreign investor who has officially taken part in Prabowo's housing program. Earlier this year, the Indonesian government and Sheikh Abdulaziz Al Thani of Qatar’s Qilaa International Group signed a MoU for the development of 1  million apartment units. The Qatari investment is worth at least $16 billion.  According to Hashim, the government housing initiative is quite popular among foreign investors, including close neighbor Singapore whom he claimed would like to build 100,000 units.

Indonesia is offering any interested investor idle lands owned by state-owned enterprises such as house developer Perumnas. Informal workers and anyone who earns less than Rp 8 million (almost $488) a month are eligible to occupy these residential units.

Turkiye only secured the 44th place for Indonesia’s largest source of foreign direct investment (FDI) in 2024. Turkish investors only invested approximately $19.4 million in Indonesia throughout last year, government data shows.  The money flowed to 755 projects.

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