Ministry blocks work by China-led group, cites safety issues
ERWIDA MAULIA, Nikkei staff writer
A model of the high-speed train on display in the groundbreaking ceremony.
JAKARTA -- Indonesia's first high-speed railway will not receive permits allowing construction to proceed until requirements including the network's life span and seismic safety are met, the Transportation Ministry says.
Work on the 142km network to connect Jakarta and Bandung broke ground Jan. 22 in a ceremony attended by President Joko Widodo. Several government officials had said earlier that the project would not begin until all the permits had been released.
But it was learned later that though the project won the environment ministry's endorsement and a nod on the planned route, the Transportation Ministry refused to issue the business permit and construction permit. These two permits should allow the consortium formed by several Chinese and Indonesian state-owned companies to enter the railway industry and commission the construction.
Hermanto Dwiatmoko, director general for railways at the Transportation Ministry, said the consortium needs to adjust several details in its design and development plans before a concession agreement can be reached and the final two permits issued.
Dwiatmoko told reporters that "we want the railway to have a life span of 100 years, not 60 years [as stated in the current design]." The concession will last only 50 years, he said, after which the government will take over the property. An extended life span will let the government benefit longer from the takeover.
The ministry rejected the consortium's request for a longer concession period, Dwiatmoko said. Previous media reports said the consortium requested at least 10 additional years due to worries that it could not break even in 40 years.
Another major issue concerns the distance between track centers, Dwiatmoko said, as the Jakarta-Bandung railway is designed to run on double tracks. The current design gives a distance of 4.6 meters for a train that will reach 350kph. But track centers should be 5 meters apart for such a speed, he said, while a 4.6-meter distance allows a maximum speed of only 250kph.
"It will be dangerous if the distance is not wide enough," he said. "Trains [running on opposite tracks] at a very high speed may collide. This is an important safety issue."
Furthermore, the consortium needs a seismic survey for some areas of the route outside Bandung because of their vulnerability to earthquakes, and the track location or the structure's strength must be adjusted accordingly, Dwiatmoko said, citing recommendations from the country's meteorology and geophysics agency, the BMKG.
"All of these are requirements that they [the consortium] must meet if they want to proceed with the project," he said. "There is no room for negotiations."
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Indonesian high-speed rail: Ministry blocks work by China-led group, cites safety issues- Nikkei Asian Review
