TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - PT Kereta Cepat Indonesia Cina (KCIC) and High-Speed Railway Contractor Consortium (KSRCC) signed an engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract on the Jakarta – Bandung bullet train on Tuesday, April 4, 2017.

PT KCIC president director Hanggoro Budi Wiryawan said that the contractors will proceed with construction following the contract signing.

The bullet train is expected to commence operations by 2019. Hanggoro had said very little about land clearing issue and its funding. Hanggoro only expressed that he continued to try to solve the problem.

Four state-owned enterprises in the bullet train consortium were reportedly having difficulty making payments for land clearing. China Development Bank (CDB), the debtor of the project, was reportedly reluctant to disburse loans before the SOEs sorted out the land clearing problems.

The State-Owned Enterprise Minister expert staff Sahala Lumban Gaol on March 20 said that the government was discussing land clearing problem with China Development Bank (CDB). The CDB has offered bridge option.

Hanggoro said that the discussion with the CDB on bullet train project requirements is ongoing. He is hopeful that an agreement could be reached as soon as possible. "They will be in Indonesia for two weeks, so we have to make an all-out effort to discuss with them in order to meet all requirements," Hanggoro said.

The loan agreement with the CDB is worth USD 5.2 billion or Rp69.4 trillion. The KCIC and HRSCC had earlier signed a letter of agreement worth USD 4.302 billion. However, Hanggoro today said that the project is worth USD 4.7 billion. "After a more accurate detailed design, we came up with the figure," Hanggoro said.

VINDRY FLORENTIN