Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, reveals that Indonesia and China have agreed to form a team to work on the Jakarta-Surabaya high-speed rail (HSR) project − an extension of the already functional Jakarta-Bandung HSR.
“We have agreed to form a team for the Jakarta-Surabaya high-speed rail,” Luhut said in a video uploaded on his Instagram account, as quoted by Tempo.co.id on Monday, April 22, 2024.
The agreement was one of the results of the 4th Meeting of the Indonesia-China High Level Dialogue and Cooperation Mechanism or HDCM in Labuan Bajo, East Nusa Tenggara on April 19, 2024. Luhut led the Indonesian delegation, while the Chinese delegation was led by Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi. The meeting itself discussed continuations of cooperation between Indonesia and China in various fields. One of the issues discussed was the Jakarta-Surabaya high-speed train project.
Luhut assessed that China is considered to get involved in the Jakarta-Surabaya high-speed rail project because it has had the experience working on the 142.3-kilometer Jakarta-Bandung high-speed rail project. According to him, China is a country that has the greatest potential compared to other countries in this project.
With China’s experience, Luhut is optimistic that the cost of the Jakarta-Surabaya high-speed railway project will be cheaper. He also emphasized that the government would save a lot of money for this project.
This is, according to him, due to domestic downstreaming as Indonesia no longer needs many imported materials. In addition to experience and cost efficiency, Luhut said that by collaborating with China, the government does not need to change the system, so it can continue with the rhythm and system of development that already exists.
Besides the high-speed rail project, Luhut also discussed the Kuala Tanjung Port development plan with Wang Yi. He said that Kuala Tanjung would partner with Ningbo Port, so that it can directly export and send containers abroad.
“There is no need [for Kuala Tanjung] to be a feeder (port) for Singapore. We have to show Indonesia’s independence in the future,” he said.
