Danantara Reopens Global Tender to Solve Indonesia’s Trash Crisis

JAKARTA, Investortrust.id — Indonesia’s sovereign investment powerhouse is looking to turn the nation’s mounting trash heaps into a high-voltage asset class. Danantara Indonesia, through its subsidiary PT Danantara Investment Management (DIM), officially reopened registration for domestic and global partners on Wednesday to develop waste-to-energy (WtE) plants across the archipelago.

The announcement marks the second wave of a strategic push to attract sophisticated capital and proprietary technology to a sector long hampered by logistical complications. By inviting international players to join local firms, Jakarta is signaling that its "waste emergency" requires a global solution—one that converts overflowing landfills into stable baseload power for the national grid.

This move is a cornerstone of Indonesia’s broader "Green Energy" roadmap. For the global investor, the project offers a rare entry point into regulated utility-scale infrastructure backed by a new legal framework. By formalizing a "Verified Provider List" (DPT), Danantara aims to weed out speculative bidders and ensure that only firms with proven operational histories and bankable technologies reach the final auction stage.

"This step is part of the implementation of government policy in waste management based on environmentally friendly technology," said Fadli Rahman, Director of Investment at PT Danantara Investment Management, in Jakarta on Wednesday.

The Regulatory Engine

The program is anchored by Presidential Regulation (Perpres) No. 109 of 2025, which provides the legal scaffolding for Pengolahan Sampah menjadi Energi Listrik (PSEL)—the localized term for waste-to-energy. The regulation is designed to solve two headaches with one pill: drastically reducing urban waste volumes while padding the country’s renewable energy mix.

The first wave of the program has already targeted high-pressure zones such as Bekasi (home to the massive Bantargebang landfill), the tourism hub of Greater Denpasar, Greater Bogor, and the cultural center of Yogyakarta with China's Wangneng Environment to operate the Bekasi WtE plant and Zhejiang Weiming Environment for the Denpasar facility.

This second phase aims to broaden the technological palette and funding sources available to the state.

Vetting for Quality

Under the Danantara model, companies that pass the DPT pre-qualification will become a "shortlist" of strategic partners. This pool will be tapped for upcoming projects, ensuring that the technology deployed is both sustainable and suited to the specific moisture content and composition of Indonesian municipal waste.

“This reopening expands the participation of national and global companies in developing modern waste management infrastructure,” Mr. Rahman said. He noted that the initiative had already piqued the interest of various international investors eager to participate in a sector that bridges environmental social governance (ESG) goals with infrastructure returns.

Beyond the immediate goal of power generation, Fadli emphasized that the initiative reflects Danantara’s commitment to "Good Corporate Governance." The selection process is designed to ensure that the chosen technologies provide optimal benefits to the public while maintaining long-term commercial viability.

As the country grapples with the environmental limits of traditional landfills, Danantara’s tender represents a high-stakes bet that Indonesia can successfully industrialize its path to a cleaner, electrified future.

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