Breaking


Showing posts with label indonesia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label indonesia. Show all posts

Wednesday, 25 January 2017

19:39

Jakarta-Surabaya project may become high-speed train

Jakarta-Surabaya project may become high-speed train
The Transportation Ministry says the government has not overlooked the possibility of converting a semi high-speed train connecting Jakarta and Surabaya in East Java into a high-speed project, if it is technically possible.

The ministry is currently looking for consultants from Japan to conduct a feasibility study for the project, which is expected to be completed by the end of this year, said Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi.

“It depends. If it is feasible then the project may become a high-speed one,” he said following a meeting at the State Palace in Central Jakarta.

The Jakarta-Surabaya project is part of the government’s efforts to revitalize the existing railway, which will be developed into a medium-speed railway with an estimated capacity of 160 kilometers per hour.

The travel time between the two cities is expected to fall to three-and-a-half hours from the current 12 hours as a result of the project, for which the first phase of development may require US$2.6 billion of financing. (bbn)

0
By at No comments:
Labels: , , , ,

Monday, 19 October 2015

10:55

China signs its first $5.5 Billion bullet train deal with Indonesia

China signs its first $5.5 Billion bullet train deal with Indonesia

Jakarta: After years of intense lobbying with several countries, including India, in an effort to sell its high-speed rail technology,China has finally bagged its first ever overseas bullet train project signing a $5.5 billion deal with Indonesia.

The two countries inked an agreement inJakarta on Friday to launch a joint venture for a high-speed rail linking the Indonesian capital with Bandung, the capital of West Java “in a breakthrough deal,” state-run Global Times reported.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Chinese Ambassador Xie Feng said the high-speed rail would be China’s first overseas project entirely using Chinese technology and the largest investment value ever.

“The high-speed railway connecting Jakarta and Bandung has resulted from the agreement of both countries’ leaders upon the need to synergise strategies to attain higher growth,” he said.

The $5.5 billion project to build the 150 km high speed rail will be conducted on a business-to-business basis, in which the Indonesian side controls 60% of the joint venture’s stake, while the Chinese partner controls the remaining 40% share.

China which is a late comer to high speed rail technology after Japan and Germany plans to make it a major high technology growth engine to revive its slowing economy.

Before marketing it abroad China has gone in for a massive expansion of bullet trains. Currently it has 40 rail lines stretching up to 16,000 kms, the world’s largest high speed rail network.

The high speed technology besides its expertise in energy and infrastructure building by Chinese firms is part of its Silk Road initiative to gain high technology exports through lucrative investments abroad, which Chinese officials hope would boost economic growth currently down at about seven per cent.

China is also jostling with Japan to gain bullet train deals in India. It is already conducting feasibility study to build a bullet train on the Chennai-New Delhi corridor.

The Indonesian deal is part of the two countries’ initiatives to materialise the 21st century Maritime Silk Road and “World
0
By at No comments:
Labels: , , , ,

Thursday, 1 October 2015

15:54

Indonesia finalises China over Japan for country’s first High Speed Rail

Indonesia finalises China over Japan for country’s first High Speed Rail

Jakarta: Indonesia picked China over Japan to build the country’s first fast-train rail link because Beijing had the courage to provide $5 billion in loans without asking for guarantees, an Indonesian official said on Wednesday.

The two Asian giants had been battling for months over the high-profile contract to build a railway linking the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, with the textile hub of Bandung.

Indonesia initially envisaged a high-speed service for the 150-km (100 mile) journey but this month changed its mind, opting instead for a medium-speed train.

Analysts have said whoever won the bid could be a front runner for future rail projects in the region, including one linking Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.

President Joko Widodo’s administration preferred China’s proposal because it was less burdensome and promised a larger share of technology transfer than Japan.

“The government of China has courage not to ask for guarantees from Indonesia,” Gatot Trihargo, deputy assistant for the state-owned enterprises ministry, told Reuters on Wednesday.

“While other countries like Japan and Germany request government guarantees, we cannot afford this because our budget is limited.”

The high-profile contract is a victory for Chinese President Xi Jinping’s “One Belt One Road” initiative to build a network of ports, trains and expressways to help expand trade, investment and influence in the region.

For Japan, the rail project was a difficult loss, particularly after last-minute efforts by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to provide a better offer than China.

“The Japanese government still believes our proposal was the better and most feasible one,” Japanese embassy official Kijima said. “We were expecting transparency and fairness from the Indonesian government. We hope that in the future they will be more transparent and fair.”

Indonesia’s national planning minister, Sofyan Djalil, travelled to Japan this week to break the bad news to Tokyo, but also lobby officials on other investment opportunities.

“There are many infrastructure projects, not just trains, and many opportunities for the Japanese government to build infrastructure in Indonesia,” said Indonesia’s presidential chief of staff, Teten Masduki. ($1 = 14,660 Rupiah)
0
By at No comments:
Labels: , , , , ,

Wednesday, 9 September 2015

17:58

Scrapping Indonesia’s High Speed Bullet Train leaves top Investors confused

Scrapping Indonesia’s High Speed Bullet Train leaves top Investors confused

Jakarta: The $6 billion plan is not commercially viable, and Indonesia has asked bidders from China and Japan to resubmit bids for a slower train for the route between Jakarta and Indonesia’s third biggest city, Bandung, Rizal Ramli, the minister coordinating transport policy told.

Indonesia had decided to scrap plans for the nation’s first high-speed railway. This has sown confusion among top investors China and Japan, potentially undermining the strong foreign investment that has been a rare economic bright spot.

China and Japan had been battling over the multi-billion dollar contract, until it was abruptly pulled in what appeared to be the latest in a series of regulatory flip-flops and erratic policy-making moves under President Joko Widodo.

Indonesia’s chief economics minister was left to explain to the two Asian giants on Friday the reason why Jakarta decided at the last-minute that a bullet train was no longer viable for Southeast Asia’s largest economy.

“It looks like a sudden move because the recommendation was made after a review of both proposals,” Teten Masduki, presidential chief of staff, told. “But the recommendation is in the best interest of the country.”  Tokyo and Beijing had lobbied heavily for the $5 billion contract, each sweetening the terms of their bids up until Monday’s deadline.

Analysts believed that whoever had won would likely have been the front-runner for future high-speed rail projects in Asia, including one linking Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.

“It was the recommendation from independent consultants that suggested to the government that a medium-speed rail was a better option because the cost is cheaper and the time of the journey isn’t much longer,” Masduki said.

President Widodo announced late Thursday that a bullet train between the capital Jakarta and the textile town of Bandung was unnecessary, since it would never reach its maximum speed of more than 300 km (188 miles) per hour in between station stops.

The administration instead advocated a slower train and asked China, Japan, and others to submit new proposals.

“Consequently, both proposals extended by our government and the Chinese government are not accepted,” Yasuaki Tanizaki, Japan’s ambassador to Indonesia, told reporters on Friday. “I have expressed my regrets.”

A Chinese embassy official in Jakarta declined to comment until more information was provided by Indonesia.

“The project was a priority for China because it would have been one of the first and most visible manifestations of President Xi Jinping’s ‘One Belt, One Road’ overseas investment drive,” said Tom Rafferty, Beijing-based analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit.

“Chinese firms have not always been sensitive to political risk in foreign markets but on this occasion the lobbying and marketing effort was extensive. The decision therefore seems likely to dim China’s confidence in the Indonesian market.”

Japanese ambassador Tanizaki said he did not think Thursday’s decision would affect Japan’s investment in the country. He said Tokyo was waiting for details on the medium-speed rail project before deciding whether to participate.

The road to Thursday’s decision was particularly bumpy for Tokyo, which had initially believed it won the contract in March after completing a more than $3 million feasibility study. But Indonesia decided to invite other offers in order to get the best deal.

Japan is Indonesia’s second largest investor and is no stranger to the uncertainty surrounding major infrastructure projects in the world’s fourth most populous country.

Japanese firms have been waiting four years to build a $4 billion coal-fired power plant, Southeast Asia’s biggest, and were told by President Widodo last week that construction was now set to start.

But obstacles still stand in the way with dozens of landowners refusing to give up their paddy fields, leaving investors still uncertain on when ground will finally be broken.

“The cumulative effect of delays on a number of projects could send a bad signal to investors,” said Paul Rowland, a Jakarta-based political analyst. “It’s clear that the president is frustrated with the pace of things.”

The HSR is expected to cut traveling time on the 150 km stretch between the two cities from the current three hours to less than 40 minutes. The two Asian giants have repeatedly sent high-level envoys to lobby the Indonesian government in what has been an unprecedented battle to build the 150-km (93-mile) link between the capital, Jakarta, and the textile hub of Bandung. Two government sources have earlier expressed that Indonesia is leaning toward awarding the multi-billion dollar contract to China because its proposal is seen as “less financially burdensome”. Indonesia’s state enterprises minister said that if China were to win the contract, state-owned companies PT Wijaya Karya, PT Jasa Marga, PT Kereta Api, and PT Perkebunan Nusantara VIII would be involved in the consortium with China. “There is truly no burden on the government,” the minister, Rini Soemarno, told reporters even on Wednesday.

Japan competes with Singapore as Indonesia’s top investor in Indonesia, while China is the Southeast Asian nation’s biggest trading partner.

The new proposals, which he hopes will be 30% to 40% cheaper, will take several weeks, Ramli told.

Coordinating Minister for the Economy Darmin Nasution told the South China Morning Post that Indonesian president Joko Widodo has decided that the high-speed service is not needed. The 150km route is not long enough for the train to reach its top speed of 300km/h, Nasution told.

Cancellation of Indonesian high speed rail plan sends damaging signal, says experts. Singapore-based infrastructure expert Nicholas Brown of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com said: “If these reports are to be taken at face value then the damaging signal that this change of heart sends to foreign infrastructure investors could unwind much of the PR gains that the central government had been seeking through its open-for-business campaign.”

“What makes the volte-face so unexpected is that both the length of the link and the likely range of capex required for it were known from the start,” Brown said.

The ‘medium-speed’ train is expected to travel at 200km/h and will only be 11 minutes slower, the South China Morning Post said.

The IMF said this week that transport infrastructure is vital to growth in Indonesia.
0
By at No comments:
Labels: , , ,

Monday, 31 August 2015

20:12

First High-speed Railway in Indonesia who battle between China and Japan

Indonesia leaning towards China over Japan in an aggressive HSR bidding battle

Jakarta: Indonesia is leaning towards China over Japan in an aggressive bidding battle to build the Southeast Asian nation’s first high-speed railway, two government sources involved in making the decision said.

The two Asian giants have both sent envoys to lobby Indonesian officials over the past two weeks, each sweetening the terms of their bid for the contract worth about US$5 billion.

Analysts believe that whoever wins will likely become the front runner for other high-speed rail projects coming up in Asia over the coming years, including one in Thailand.

A cabinet-level committee led by chief economic minister Darmin Nasution will meet on Monday to make its recommendation on which country should build the rail line between the capital, Jakarta, and textile hub of Bandung.

President Joko Widodo is expected to announce the winner within days.

“Indonesia is leaning towards China because their proposal is less financially burdensome on the Indonesian government and because the issue of safety has been adequately addressed,” a government source told Reuters.

A second government source said Indonesia wanted to strike a balance between the two powers in handing out high-profile infrastructure projects. Japan already holds contracts to build Jakarta’s mass rapid-transit system and the biggest coal-fired power plant in the region.

Both sources declined to be identified due to the diplomatic sensitivity of the issue for Jakarta and the economic stakes. Japan is Indonesia’s second-largest investor, while China is its top trading partner.

“We have two partners and it will be good if we can maintain both of them. We have to be smart when taking this decision,” Luky Eko Wuryanto, Indonesia’s deputy minister of infrastructure and regional development, told Reuters Friday after meeting China’s ambassador to Indonesia.

Envoys

The 50-kilometre rail line should to cut the journey between Jakarta and Bandung to 35 minutes, from about three hours. Trains are expected to reach speeds of more than 300km/h.

Indonesia hopes to extend the line later to connect Jakarta with the city of Surabaya.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe last week sent an envoy to offer a more-attractive deal ahead of Monday’s deadline, which was Japan’s second revision in two weeks.

Japan’s late manoeuvring brought protests from China, which said it was unfair Japan had been allowed to submit a new offer so close to the deadline, a minister said. China had sweetened its offer earlier in August.

Japan initially believed it had won the contract after completing a more than $3 million feasibility study, but in March Mr Widodo invited other offers in order to get the best deal.

China is offering a 73.92 trillion rupiah ($5.27 billion) loan with a 50-year tenure and an interest rate of 2% in US dollars.

Japan is offering a 60.14 trillion rupiah repayable over 40 years at an interest rate of 0.1% in yen, with a 10-year grace period.

Its latest proposal also offers Japanese guarantees on financing and increases the percentage of local content.
0
By at No comments:
Labels: , , , , ,

Friday, 28 August 2015

22:44

Racing to beat China, Japan sweetens bid for Indonesia High Speed Rail project

Racing to beat China, Japan sweetens bid for Indonesia High Speed Rail project

Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has sent an envoy to Indonesia to offer a sweeter deal to build a high-speed railway, highlighting the importance of the multi-billion dollar project that China also wants to win

Jakarta: Japan’s prime minister has sent an envoy to Indonesia to offer a sweeter deal to build a high-speed railway, a Japanese embassy official said on Thursday, highlighting the importance of the multi-billion dollar project that China also wants to win.

The two Asian giants are in a neck-and-neck contest to win a contract to build Indonesia’s first high-speed rail, between the capital Jakarta and textile hub Bandung, a project that would bolster their influence in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy.

Japan and China have until August 31 to submit their best offers to Jakarta.

“Prime Minister Abe decided this project is very politically important so he dispatched a special envoy to meet President Joko Widodo again,” Yoshiko Kijima, attache for economic affairs at the Japanese embassy in Jakarta, told Reuters.

Japanese envoy Izumi Hiroto submitted the fresh proposal to the president late on Wednesday, the second such revision since China sweetened its bid on August 11.

Japan is offering a 40-year loan at an interest rate of 0.1 per cent with a 10-year grace period. The latest proposal also offers Japanese government guarantees on financing and increases the per centage of local content.

China has also mounted a high-profile campaign to win the deal, offering a loan of $5.5 billion with a 50-year tenure, an interest rate of 2 per cent and a grace period, as of August 14.

Indonesia has hired Boston Consulting Group to evaluate the two proposals and is set to announce a winner soon.

The contest has put Indonesia in a diplomatic bind, a government official said.

“There is definitely a feeling in government that this is a tricky one because both China and Japan are important trading partners and they don’t want to upset one or the other,” said one government source with knowledge of the matter.

Kijima, who attended Wednesday’s meeting with the Indonesian president, said Hiroto had made an “emotional” presentation of the latest offer.

“The high-speed rail is a symbol of national pride and development in Japan and it will come as a shock to Japan and its people if the project goes to China,” Kijima said.

She said business relations between Japan and Indonesia were expected to be normal regardless of the outcome.

Japan competes with Singapore as Indonesia’s top investor in Indonesia, while China is the Southeast Asian nation’s biggest trading partner.
0
By at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , ,

Tuesday, 25 August 2015

22:27

Our Indonesian High-speed Railway proposal better than Japan’s; claims China

Our Indonesian High-speed Railway proposal better than Japan’s; claims China

Jakarta: China’s proposal for Indonesia’s first stretch of high speed railway is more competitive than Japan’s plan, the spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Commerce said on Wednesday.

Spokesperson Shen Danyang said the Chinese solution was carefully designed and cost-efficient, and could be delivered in a shorter amount of time compared with the design put forward by Japan for the Jakarta-Bandung rail link.

“If China wins, China and Indonesia will establish a joint venture to operate the railway, sharing both interests and risks,” said the spokesperson.

Shen also added that Indonesia’s needs could be better met by China, as it promised to train railway staff and transfer railway technology.

Indonesia announced last month it would hold an open bid for the 120 km long route.

As special envoy of President Xi Jinping, Xu Shaoshi, head of the National Development and Reform Commission, handed over a feasibility study report to the Indonesian side on Aug. 10.

Xu told Indonesian president Joko Widodo that China was willing to “promote high speed railway development in Indonesia”.

“Xu’s visit to Indonesia shows that China supports the enterprises competing for the project,” said Shen.

The winner may be announced by the end of the month at the earliest.
0
By at No comments:
Labels: , , , ,

Friday, 26 June 2015

07:14

Japan contributes to ASEAN, India in retail, railway

Japan contributes to ASEAN, India in retail, railway

AEON Mall, a subsidiary of Japan's largest retailer AEON Group, recently launched its first shopping mall in Indonesia.

AEON Mall, a subsidiary of Japan’s largest retailer AEON Group, recently launched its first shopping mall in Indonesia.

The massive facility is developed and operated by AMSL, in partnership with AEON and the local real estate giant, Sinar Mas Land.

“Indonesian market is expected to grow, supported by the significant economic growth and the increasing middle-class. We want to contribute to the economic growth of Indonesia through our retail business. We created 3,500 new jobs at this shopping centre. We wish to contribute to the economic growth by contributing to the life improvement for the people in Indonesia,” said Motoya Okada, Group CEO, President, AEON Co., Ltd.

AEON operates 141 malls in Japan and is expanding through Southeast Asia, such as in Malaysia, where it is the biggest retailer, as well as Philippines.

It forayed into Vietnam and Cambodia by opening shopping malls last year.

AEON Mall BSD City, the 177,000 square meter shopping mall houses 280 diversified stores, 47 of which are part of popular Japanese franchises.

It also includes 140 restaurants and the largest food court in BSD district.

AEON is targeting suburban areas where young families and youth with high spending live.
It plans to open 20 new shopping malls in Indonesia, mainly in West Java and the Greater Jakarta area after 2016.

“We have very high expectations in the suburb or the Greater Jakarta area in Indonesia,” added Okada.

In recent years, the world has embarked on assistance to Myanmar, as the country’s democratization has rapidly advanced.

The Japanese government has also decided to provide Overseas Development Assistance to the country. It includes renovation of aging signal equipments for the Myanmar railways.

Japan’s signal manufacturer, Kyosan Electric Manufacturing had produced and delivered the signal equipments for 27 Burma National Railway Stations at the age of the former Burma era in 1957.

These signal equipment delivered by Kyosan Electric Manufacturing, were manufactured about 60 years ago.

Even today, they are still running on active duty, it is continuously contributing to the safety of the Myanmar Railway’s passenger and cargo trains.

The signal equipment made by Kyosan Electric Manufacturing at Mandalay station was the largest at that time. It is actively running even now.

“Mandalay Station was established in 1949. This Kyosan Signaling System was installed in 1960. Still, Myanmar Railway is running with this Japanese signaling system without failure for 60 years. I realize the easy maintenance, reliability and safety of the “Made in Japan” with respect,” said Htein Win, Assistant General Manager, Ministry of Rail Transportation, Myanmar Railways.

The products made by Kyosan Electric Manufacturing still continue to operate and gathers enormous trust by the maintenance personnel of Myanmar national railway.

 Source :The Financial Express.
0
By at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , ,