"Jakarta may offer China larger stake in high-speed rail project" 27 July 2017

Indonesia may offer China a majority stake, possibly up to 90 per cent, in the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed rail (HSR), to speed things up and reduce its risks.

President Joko Widodo told his Cabinet…to evaluate the viability of offering the Chinese consortium involved in the joint venture the larger stake….

Public Works Minister Basuki Hadimuljono told Katadata…: "…the President suggested why not Indonesia just take 10 per cent and 90 per cent can go to China, to reduce the risk on Indonesia's side?"

This comes after the cost of the HSR…rose from US$5.2 billion (S$7.1 billion) to almost US$6 billion….

The plan is for the 142.3km rail line to be completed by 2019 to become the first HSR in South-east Asia.

…Costs had gone up due to the need to build a major tunnel for trains to pass through "a high-ground area", elevate parts of the tracks and acquire more land from private parties.

"There should not be any issue in giving China a majority stake because it's not as if they can take with them this railway project back to China,"…official said.

"Besides, the project is on a Build-Operate-Transfer arrangement, meaning in this case, after 50 years, the full ownership of the project will be transferred to the Indonesian government."