Back on track: China’s high-speed railway project in Indonesia to resume soon as permit granted
Beijing will continue work on its first overseas high-speed link, with Jakarta promising to issue building licence ‘immediately’
China is one step closer to resuming building its US$5.1 billion joint-venture high-speed railway project in Indonesia, after it received its operation permit on Friday.
With the Indonesian government to grant the Chinese-invested consortium one more licence – the construction permit – “immediately”, building of the rail link from Jakarta to Bandung is expected to resume very soon.
The project – the first of its kind in Southeast Asia – has made headlines over the past months, with the latest being the sudden suspension of the construction just days after Indonesian President Joko Widodo officiated its groundbreaking ceremony.
The consortium that won the intense bidding – PT Kereta Cepat Indonesia China (KCIC), a joint venture between China Railway International and an Indonesian consortium of four state-owned firms – had received a permit for only 5km of the rail and had not obtained further permits in time because of incomplete paperwork, earlier reports said.
