Jakarta - Groundbreaking pembangunan rel Kereta Api (KA) cepat Jakarta-Bandung direncanakan pada 9 November 2015. Proyek bernilai US$ 5,5 miliar itu diperkirakan rampung pada 2018 dan diharapkan beroperasi pada kuartal pertama 2019.

Chairman PT Pilar Sinergi BUMN Indonesia (PSBI), Sahat Lumban Gaol, menjelaskan pengerjaan proyek KA cepat ini dilaksanakan oleh joint venture antara PT PSBI dan China Railway International Co. Ltd dengan pembagian PT PSBI berporsi 60 persen sementara konsorsium Tiongkok 40 persen.

"Skema pendanaannya 25 persen dari ekuitas PT PSBI dan China Railway International, sementara 75 persen pinjaman dari China Development Bank," katanya di sela acara penandatanganan joint venture agreement antara PT PSBI dan China Railway International di Jakarta, Jumat (16/10).

Dia menjelaskan, proyek ini sepenuhnya dibiayai dengan skema business to business tanpa ada keterlibatan dan dari APBN maupun jaminan dari negara.

"Proyek KA cepat ini juga terintegrasi dengan pengembangan kawasan pada lokasi persinggahan sepanjang koridor Jakarta-Bandung sehingga akan menjadi lokomotif tumbuhnya ekonomi regional," ungkapnya.

http://www.beritasatu.com/ekonomi/31...-november.html

China won the rights to build a $5.5 billion railway line in Indonesia as the Southeast Asian nation tries to upgrade its infrastructure to drive economic growth.

China Railway International Co. Ltd and a consortium of Indonesian state companies will build the rail line from Jakarta to Bandung, and plan to compete for other projects in the region, Sahala Lumban Gaol, chairman of the joint venture, said Friday in Jakarta. Three quarters of the funding will come from China Development Bank, and the project won’t carry an Indonesian state guarantee, he said.
Indonesia’s first high-speed train project comes after the government last month rejected bids from China and Japan and decided to scrap plans for a state-funded bullet train, leaving only China interested in a business-to-business deal. President Joko Widodo is planning to revive flagging growth in Southeast Asia’s largest economy by building infrastructure, though budget revenues are falling short of targets this year.

“This is a new episode that means in the future Indonesia’s infrastructure development won’t burden the government and state budget,” Gaol said. “We hope this new company will compete outside Indonesia for high-speed railway projects.”

The Indonesian companies forming the joint venture, PT Pilar Sinergi BUMN Indonesia, include state construction company PT Wijaya Karya, railway operator PT Kereta Api and toll-road builder PT Jasa Marga. Jasa Marga shares were up 4.3 percent to 5,450 rupiah as of 12:07 p.m. local time, while Wijaya Karya fell 1.3 percent to 2,965 rupiah in a steady Jakarta market.

Three Years
Construction can begin early next year and end in 2018, with the line to start operating in the first half of 2019, Bintang Perbowo, chief executive of Wijaya Karya, told reporters. Wijaya Karya is considering a global bond issue as the Indonesian companies need to fund the remaining 25 percent of the project, he said. The line’s $5.5 billion value could ultimately be lower depending on the speed of the trains used, he added.

Trains are expected to run at 250 kilometers an hour, with eight stops and a fare of around $16. An existing train run by Kereta Api costs about $8 and takes more than three hours, winding its way through rice paddies and mountains to a city popular with local tourists for shopping and cooler air.

Indonesia decided not to pursue an even faster train, disappointing Japan, because it wanted extra stops so it could develop more places along the route, Rizal Ramli, the minister coordinating transport policy, told Bloomberg News last month.

Local Workers
Widodo, known as Jokowi, has been more open to Chinese investment than his predecessor to build railways, power stations and dams. The project’s use of Indonesian state companies means it can buy land for the route using a law that sets timeframes for land acquisition, which until now has been the major obstacle for most infrastructure projects in the country and has scuppered previous plans to build railways on Sumatra and Borneo islands. The project can use land from an existing toll road to Bandung, Perbowo said.
China will hold 40 percent of the venture, which will use as much Indonesian material, machinery and workers as possible, said Xie Feng, China’s ambassador to Indonesia.

The project may face resistance over the use of Chinese workers, however. Local media have expressed concerns about an “invasion” of foreign labor as the country’s unemployment rises during an economic slowdown.

“There is a push against the Chinese workers that is led mainly by the trade union movement,” said Christopher Manning, an adjunct fellow at the Australian National University, who has researched labor issues in Indonesia. “Many of the Chinese are working on construction projects, and a large number hold jobs that could be done by Indonesians. They come as part of the package. That’s the issue.”

Bloomberg