Indonesia Revives High-Speed Rail Plan

Jakarta, Sept. 23 (Jiji Press)--The Indonesian government will keep proceeding with a plan to build a high-speed railway on the island of Java, Darmin Nasution, coordinating minister for economic affairs, said Wednesday. Nasution's comment, made to reporters after his meeting with Japanese Ambassador to Indonesia Yasuaki Tanizaki, came after the government said on Sept. 3 that it would abort the plan and, instead, construct a medium-speed rail system free of fiscal burden between Jakarta and Bandung. The minister did not provide the reason for reviving the 140-kilometer high-speed rail project, for which Japan and China have been harshly vying with each other to win their construction bids, but indicated President Joko Widodo made the decision. The Chinese camp has now taken the upper hand, people familiar with the situation said. Beijing vowed to accept Jakarta's funding demands when State-Owned Enterprises Minister Rini Soemarno visited China last week, while the Japanese side has difficulty meeting such demands because its proposal chiefly calls for funding by yen loans, which require repayment guarantee by the Indonesian government, they pointed out. END