Indonesia Starts Construction of High-Speed Rail Line
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WALINI, Indonesia — Indonesia broke ground Thursday on a joint project with China to build Southeast Asia’s first high speed rail service, linking the Indonesian capital Jakarta with Bandung in western Java.

The 142.3 kilometer (88.4 mile) railway worth $5.5 billion is being constructed by PT Kereta Cepat Indonesia-China, a joint venture between an Indonesian consortium of four state-owned companies and China Railway International Co. Ltd.

The groundbreaking ceremony was presided over by Indonesia’s President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, who signed an inscription on a large stone in Walini, a West Java town and location of one of the railway’s eight stations.

The rail deal was signed in October after Indonesia selected China over Japan for the three-year project. China agreed to complete railway without using Indonesian government money or requiring a government guarantee for loans. Indonesian companies have a combined 60 percent stake in the project.

Jokowi said not using the state budget for the rail project in heavily populated Java meant money wasn’t taken away from infrastructure projects in other parts of Indonesia, a sprawling archipelago.

He said other railways are under construction in Sumatra and Sulawesi while others are planned for Papua and Kalimantan.

Also on hand for the ground breaking was Chinese State Councilor Wang Yong who arrived Wednesday and also will meet with Jokowi.

The trains are expected start operating in early 2019 with speeds of 250 kilometers (155 miles) an hour, and a fare of about $16 for a journey of about 40 minutes. The existing trains to Bandung, the capital of West Java province, take about three hours and cost about $8.

The Jakarta-Bandung line is part of a 750-kilometer (466-mile) high-speed train plant that would cut across four provinces on the main island of Java and end in the country’s second largest city of Surabaya.

Several Southeast Asian countries are looking to replace or update aging rail networks, provoking fierce commercial competition between Japan and China which have expertise in developing high speed trains. A line linking Singapore with Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia is expected to be finished in 2020.

Jokowi who came to power in late 2014, has ambitious plans to improve Indonesia’s infrastructure, which could boost manufacturing and create hundreds of thousands of new jobs.

The Indonesian state-owned companies in the joint venture with China are construction company PT Wijaya Karya, railway operator PT Kereta Api Indonesia, toll-road builder PT Jasa Marga and plantation company PT Perkebunan Nusantara VIII.

陸拿下合約 印尼首條高鐵動工

印尼總統佐科威21日參加印尼第一條高速鐵路破土動工典禮，未來由首都雅加達到同為爪哇島上的萬隆，將由目前的3小時短為40分鐘 。

印尼內閣秘書普拉莫諾阿農日前表示，中國大陸與印尼合資企業參與的雅加達到萬隆高速鐵路工程將在西爪哇省萬隆瓦利尼舉行奠基禮，預計2018年年底完工，2019年年初通車。

印尼維卡公司和中國鐵路總公司，去（2015）年10月16日簽署組建中印合資公司協議。

印尼首條高鐵總投資約55億美元，高鐵全長150公里，最高設計時速300公里。從雅加達到萬隆約180公里，未來搭高鐵的旅行時間將由現在超過3小時縮短到40分鐘以內。

菲律賓媒體預估，「雅萬高鐵」初期客流每日約4萬4000人次，高鐵沿線經濟區包括動工地點附近的瓦利尼站是印尼第8種植園，此處是印尼政府商業開發重點，此一占地3000公頃的種植園將打造為國際旅遊及商業區。

雅萬高鐵原是印尼打算與日本合作，印尼最後選擇中國大陸的方案，原因在於不佔用國家預算、無需政府提供擔保，是中國大陸方案勝出關鍵原因。

「雅萬高鐵」數度轉折，中國和日本最早都提出競標案，印尼一度退回兩個方案，理由是鐵道短且沿線多站，實際時速可能只有200公里左右，未達高鐵的350公里時速。

中國拿下印尼高鐵合約，是實現「一帶一路」經濟戰略的一環。「21世紀海上絲綢之路」簡稱「一路」。沿海上絲綢之路，中國大陸計畫發展與東南亞、南亞、中東、北非及歐洲的經濟合作關係。與各國合建公路、鐵路、港口等基礎設施是其中重點項目。

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2016/01/21/world/asia/ap-as-indonesia-high-speed-train.html

2016-01-22．聯合報．A16．兩岸．曼谷記者林以君