After dumping plans for high-speed rail line, Indonesia wants bids from China and Japan for a medium-speed rail project

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Indonesia last week unexpectedly dumped much-vaunted plans for its first high-speed railway in favour of a slower and cheaper rail option, in a blow to bidders Japan and China. Photo: Reuters

Published: 6:19pm, 6 Sep 2015

Bids were expected from China and Japan for a medium-speed rail project in Indonesia that will be 40 percent cheaper than the $6 billion bullet train project that Jakarta scrapped last week, an Indonesian minister said in an interview.

China and Japan were disappointed by the cancellation of the high-speed rail project, announced by the government on Friday, but could renew rivalries to build the medium-speed rail link between the capital Jakarta and the third-largest city, Bandung.

"Both China and Japan are still interested in the medium-speed train," Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs, Rizal Ramli, said.

"Indonesia is just the first battlefield between China and Japan," Ramli said, adding, "there are other countries that would be interested in similar projects so the stakes are high."

A Japanese embassy official in Jakarta said the Japanese government would not be bidding, but that Indonesia had invited private Japanese companies to participate.

State Enterprises Minister Rini Soemarno said on Friday that Japanese requests for government guarantees and government loans for state-owned enterprises were too burdensome for Indonesia, and had not been sought by China.

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