Deliberation of a bill on land acquisition is continuing in the DPR. The draft law, submitted to the DPR in December 2010, is required to clarify provisions on land acquisition for public infrastructure projects. Intractable disputes over land acquisition present a severe challenge to upgrading Indonesia's dilapidated and inadequate infrastructure, which serves as a bottleneck to economic growth. The draft law would grant officials authority to manage the acquisition of land for the construction of public infrastructure in advance of opening projects for tender. Independent teams would be appointed to value land, with final prices determined through negotiation between landowners and officials. Under the provisions of the bill, disputes over pricing should be heard by district courts within 30 days, with no further appeals to higher courts.

Although passage of the bill would mark an important step forward in addressing Indonesia's infrastructure woes, it will not solve all of the country's problems overnight. In April 2011 Zulkarnain Arief, the deputy chairman for infrastructure at the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin), warned that the draft bill would not succeed in attracting private investment in the absence of reliable long-term finance and enforcement of relevant laws and regulations. The National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) estimates that Indonesia would require annual investment of Rp2,417trn (US$280.7bn) in infrastructure as part of a drive to attain annual growth rates of 7-8% and achieve high-income status within 15 years, with much of this finance coming from private sources. This compares with public infrastructure spending-only partially realised-of Rp95trn and a public works budget of Rp36trn in 2010. An alliance of non-governmental organisations has also raised concerns over the bill, on the grounds that it would legalise land seizures and forced evictions, in addition to leaving vulnerable groups of low-income citizens open to abuse.