European Investor Interested in Kalimantan Railway Project
Monday, 04 December, 2006 | 16:52 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: The government's plan of offering a project of rail track that connects South Kalimantan and Central Kalimantan has a positive response from foreign investors.

According to the Secretary General of the Department of Transportation Wendi Aritonang, there are two European investors that have expressed interest in joining the project. One of them is from France, which will invite a local company to join it He said that he did not remember the name and the origin of the other investor.

”The two investors have calculated the investment that will be disbursed in the project,” said Wendi last week in Jakarta.

In the calculation, he entered the variable as the government's guarantee. The guarantee took the form of support from the regional government in the construction process, especially land acquisition and the company's commitment that will make use of the train to use the track.

The train in Kalimantan will carry mining goods and farming products. Data of the Department of Transportation has it that the rail track spans 138 kilometers from Banjarmasin (South Kalimantan) to Palangkaraya (Central Kalimantan). The project has high priority status. In other words, it must be built soon. Construction will cost US$201.2 million.

In regard to the project, so far the concession that will be granted to investors has not yet been set. Wendi has explained that the concession will be based on the calculation of tariff and time. “If the tariff is set at low rate, the concession time will be lengthened, and vice versa,” he said.

HARUN MAHBUB