Luhut Says China Is Willing To Build Surabaya High-speed Train, But Asks For Debt To Be Repaid

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Chairman of the National Economic Council (DEN) Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan revealed that China has expressed its willingness to extend the high-speed rail project to Surabaya.

However, Luhut said the plan would only be continued after the problem of debt restructuring for the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed rail project (KCJB) or known as bettersh was resolved.

"China just said, 'we will continue to get to Surabaya if you guys have resolved this restructuring problem, immediately'. I said when I went to China three months ago, 'OK, just wait for the Presidential Decree (Presidential Decree), so that the team can be worked on," said Luhut.

Luhut also admitted that he had conveyed to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Anagata Nusantara Power Investment Management Agency (BPI Danantara) Rosan Perkasa Roeslani to immediately prepare the names who would join the team.

In line with that, said Luhut, Rosan is also in the discussion stage with President Prabowo Subianto.

"Just waiting for the Presidential Decree, so that the team is done. Yesterday I told Mr. Rosan, I said, 'The Rosan will immediately make it, this person, this, if this makes the presidential decree, he said 'I'm talking to the president',' he said.

Luhut said that his party had also made a preliminary study or study for the Surabaya High Speed Train. This includes the details of the path to be traversed by the train.

Based on the study, Luhut continued, the fast train route will start from Bandung, then proceed to Kertajati, Purwokerto, Cilacap, Solo, to the final destination to Surabaya.

"And we already know, experiencing lessons from Jakarta-Bandung, we don't make a lot of tunnels, because these tunnels are expensive. We also don't have a lot of land acquisition. What for that? We just align, just parallel to the previous train or existing car roads," he said.

On the other hand, Luhut also dismissed the assumption that theASH project asked for funding from the state budget (APBN). He emphasized that the project issue was only related to restructuring and there was no request for additional funds from the government.

With good coordination between agencies and the president's support, Luhut continued, the problem of theASH project can be resolved without significant obstacles.

Wong negara sebesar ini, kewenangan di presiden, sepanjang kita komple, apa hingga? Itu bisa diselesaikan. Jadi saya tidak melihat juga masalah yang lain, katanya.