China has had the upper hand in a race with Japan in the bid for a high-speed railway project in Indonesia. CCTV spoke to an Indonesian official and the chief engineer of the Chinese contractor in the deal.
"Today, we want to introduce China's bulletin-train technology to the public. You heard from China's ambassador to Indonesia, 50 percent of people in China take bulletin trains to travel. It hints a major trend in the future," said Rini M. Soemarno, Indonesian Minister of SOEs.
"We are confident on the project because we have top technology, the right train model for the Indonesian market, and good Indonesian partners. We need shorter time than our rivals to build the project," said He Huawu, Chief engineer, China Railway Corp..
Indonesia says it would only consider a proposal that did not involve the state budget. Indonesia says unlike the previous feasibility study submitted by the Japan International Cooperation Agency, or JICA for short, China reassured the government that the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway project remained viable without any state support.
Indonesia says the total investment to construct the high-speed railway proposed by China reached US$ 5.5 billion with an interest rate of 2 percent and a grace period of 10 years.