China Says high Speed Train Project Preparations Run As Scheduled

BEIJING, March 31 (Antara) - The Government of China has said it was confident the Jakarta-Bandung rail track project for high speed train would be completed as scheduled by the end of 2019. "China is fully confident ... after hearing from those involved, we (China) and Indonesia," spokesman of Chinese Foreign Ministry Lu Kang said in a news release here on Friday. The statement came in reaction to reports by foreign news agencies that implementation of the US$5.3 billion project had been sluggish. After the groundbreaking ceremony in January 2016, construction of the 142.3 kilometer Jakarta-Bandung rail track had to be postponed due to issues related to paperwork as well as revisions that had to be made to the project's development plan. There also surfaced reports that land procurement and a shortage of funds exacerbated the situation. Lu Kang said the project preparations had progressed as scheduled by the Chinese and Indonesian governments. "The Jakarta-Bandung speed train is a large systematic project," he said, adding preparations take time. It was normal that minor problems come in certain phases hampering work in the project to be completed by the end of 2019, he said. Lu said currently both sides are consulting each other on contract and loan to finance engineering, procurement and construction (EPC). "As far as we know , both sides would soon sign the agreement," he said. The project would benefit both sides . Both side are set to carry out the project," he said. The project is to be built by a consortium Kereta Cepat Indonesia China (KCIC) grouping four Indonesian state-owned companies and six Chinese state-owned companies. Reports said earlier that KCIC admitted that construction work has hardly advanced. The main reason: The company has failed to secure funds to finance the project. Although the company counted on borrowing money from a group of Chinese banks, negotiations for loan contracts have barely moved. When asked about the funding situation in late June, Hanggoro Budi Wiryawan, president of KCIC, said raising funds was "proving difficult." The Chinese banks are holding back from extending loans because of the delayed land acquisition.