This is the first High Speed Railway in Southeast Asia: Indonesia's Jakarta-Bandung High Speed Rail. One of Indonesia Mega projects.
Indonesia’s multi-billion high-speed rail project costing $7.9 billion, is a 142.3-kilometers railroad network. Spanning from the Capital City of Jakarta, that will connect to the City of Bandung in West Java. The standard gauge track has a maximum speed of 350 kilometers per hour. Connecting the country’s two largest Cities, from more than 3 hours in just 40 minutes.
The entire High Speed rail network, will feature four halting stations, from Halim in Jakarta. Via Karawang, and Walini. The last station will be Tegalluar in Bandung, where the depot is also built. The 73.2 km of the track will be at ground level, 53.5 km will be elevated, and 15.6 km will be underground, which includes 13 tunnels.
Indonesia originally expected construction to cost $5.5 billion, but had increased its projection to $6 billion as of January, five years since the project broke ground. Now the project estimated cost reached $7.9 billion. Before China secured the project, Japan had proposed building a shinkansen-style rail link from Jakarta to Bandung. It was to cost 600 billion yen or ($6.2 billion), with 450 billion yen funded via 40-year official development assistance (ODA) loans.
Japan offered a rate of 0.1% on the loans -- lower than the typical rate of at least 1% -- in exchange for a Japanese company winning the contract. But Widodo chose the Chinese option, which promised the transfer of high-speed rail technology and kept Indonesia off the hook for any costs or debt repayment. China's plan to finish construction in 2018, compared with Japan's potentially lengthy screening process before even breaking ground, also contributed to the decision.
The project was to fund 75% of its costs through loans from the China Development Bank, and the rest from KCIC coffers. KCIC, in turn, is 60% owned by the Indonesian side and 40% by the Chinese side. The financing scheme is clear. They offered 40 years (tenor) from China Development Bank, 10 years of grace, while 30 years of amortization, and 2 percent fixed interest rate.
