High-speed railway megaproject: KCIC wants to extend to Surabaya
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Bisnis Indonesia: Megaproyek kereta cepat: KCIC ingin lanjut hingga Surabaya
3 September 2020
By Arif Gunawan and Rinaldi M. Azka
Bisnis, Bekasi – PT Kereta Cepat Indonesia China, the joint venture that is constructing Jakarta—Bandung high-speed railway, is interested in extending the high-speed railway to Surabaya, East Java by 685.3 kilometers.
The President Director of PT Kereta Cepat Indonesia China (KCIC) Chandra Dwiputra said that this interest was a response to President Joko Widodo's wish to extend the Jakarta—Bandung high-speed railway project to Surabaya, which could cost Rp100 trillion.
“Please pray that [the high-speed railway] can be extended to Surabaya,’’ he said after inaugurating the girder installation of Jakarta—Bandung high-speed railway in Cikarang, Bekasi on Wednesday (2/9).
In order to extend the high-speed railway to Surabaya, Chandra proposed a requirement that the Jakarta—Bandung high-speed railway project that is extended to Surabaya must be included as a national strategic project.
Besides that, he added, the high-speed railway extension project must be supported by clear regulations.
Hence, he is hoping that the megaproject must be discussed on a ministerial level first.
“This [high-speed railway extension to Surabaya] is tasked by the President, so it must be implemented on a ministerial level first. As the project is still new, there are many conditions that have not been prepared for,” he said.
Chandra explained that the regulations on the high-speed railway project were not yet complete. Until now, the Jakarta—Bandung high-speed railway project is a first in the country, so the government still needs more time to prepare the regulations.
Based on KCIC’s experience in constructing the Jakarta—Bandung high-speed railway project, he said that land acquisition and supporting infrastructures for the project are under the government’s authority.
“Then, there are regulations that are yet to be supportive, such as on lands along the toll road that are used as a route. As these are state assets, there are regulations. If the government utilises it, they do not have to pay rent, while investors do. So, there is still a lack of support,” Chandra said.
KCIC is currently focusing on finishing the high-speed railway project from Jakarta to Bandung before the end of 2020. The construction standard of the Jakarta—Bandung high-speed railway project, he continued, would be the benchmark for similar projects in the future.
“If it were to be extended to Surabaya, we would already have a standard. So, we would not have to be in our current condition where we still have to face issues that need to be solved, we are hoping that there [Bandung—Surabaya], [the project] can run smoothly,” he said.
As of 2 September 2020, Chandra revealed that about 50% of pier heads of the Jakarta—Bandung project had been built. Now, the project owner has started installing girders on top of the pillars.
“Of the approximately 2,900 piers of the elevated high-speed railway structure that stretches along the Jakarta—Bandung route, nearly half of them have been completely constructed,” he said.
In addition to the pier head construction, KCIC has also completed the construction of the portal beams that span above the Cikarang toll road ramp.
Currently, the activity that is also being continued is the installation of the train track girders from three casting yard locations, which are in Cikarang, Purwakarta, and Bandung.
“Many high-speed railway piers have stood firm and are ready to be assembled. The installation process is an important focus that must be carried out as well as possible to ensure that all tracks are immediately connected,” he explained.
Chandra also revealed that he had disbursed about 55% of the funding for the Jakarta—Bandung high-speed railway project.
“25% of funding for the Jakarta—Bandung high-speed railway project currently comes from equity and 75% from foreign loans. We have received a total disbursement of 55% from the total funding of US$6.071 billion,” he said.
In the near future, there will be a disbursement or a deposit of equity, which will be followed by loan disbursements, where one of which is from China Development Bank (CDB).
The plan is that the funds will be used by KCIC to pay for the contractors, so the project implementation will run smoothly.
On Schedule
KCIC High Speed Railway Director Xin Xuezhong is committed to complete the national strategic project on schedule.
"Currently, the progress of the Jakarta—Bandung high-speed railway has reached 60%. Today, we started installing box girders at three casting yard locations,” he said.
According to him, the company is carrying out the construction in accordance with the applicable work safety and quality standards. With this step, he is hoping that this project can be finished on time.
Meanwhile, the Head of the Advocacy and Community Affairs of the Indonesian Transportation Society (MTI) Djoko Setijowarno argued that the route extension of Jakarta—Bandung high-speed railway to Surabaya needed to be postponed. The reason is that there is already a plan to build a Jakarta—Surabaya semi-highspeed railway initiated by Japan, and the capital city relocation can lower demand for travel to Jakarta.
He suggested that the government make an in-depth study on the potential of demand from passengers for Jakarta—Bandung—Surabaya high-speed railway in the future.
"The consideration is to build a semi-high-speed railway first with the Jakarta—Surabaya route. There are high-speed and semi-high-speed railways, so we are worried about dividing the demand," Djoko said.
If KCIC is interested in extending the high-speed railway route, he suggested only to extend it to Cirebon.
The Jakarta—Bandung—Surabaya high-speed railway project requires careful consideration because it requires a lot of funds, but the benefits are still unclear.
"[Extending from] Bandung to Surabaya needs careful consideration to avoid investing too much. Moreover, the capital will also be relocated, so this will affect the situation since mobility to Jakarta will be reduced," he explained.
He stated that demand for high-speed railway travel must be observed first, so that it would not collide with other modes.
The survey result shows that 62% of flight passengers travel to Jakarta for business. When Jakarta loses its status as the capital city, he is worried that newcomers will move to the new capital city.
"I am worried that demand [for travel] to Jakarta will decrease, and it will shift to the new capital," he explained.
