Thursday 24 July 2008

Indonesian high speed train project offered to investor

Indonesia's Transport Ministry has offered investors the chance to build a US$6.14 billion project of high speed trains and tracks covering a distance of 683 kilometers between Jakarta and Surabaya in East Java. Railway Director General Wendy Aritenang Yazid said the government will facilitate the process of securing the license and guarantee legal certainty for investor agreeing to build and operate the project. Prospective investors may build and operate the project without involving the state-owned railway company PT Kereta Api, Yazid said. She said the tracks for high speed train may be built over unused land along the existing railway tracks of PT KA.
She said the investors have to be involved as the project could not come to reality by relying on the cash strapped government. A feasibility study carried out by French railway company Societe Nationale des Chemins de Fer (SCNF) says the high speed train could cover the distance in three hours as against more than 10 hours normally. Investors from France, Japan and South Korea have indicated interest in the project. (http://www.bkpm.go.id/en/node/1838)

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