government will finance the railway project Trans-Sulawesi entirely without private investors, in the hope that it will pull foreign money to the region later .
The construction of 4679 km of track along the coast of Sulawesi, known as the railway project Trans-Sulawesi, Indonesia is expected to boost the economy in the coming years even as the government considers the project unattractive to foreign investors.
According to general manager of the Ministry of Transport for the railway Hermanto Dwiatmoko, the project will be financed entirely by the government coffers, that transportation projects of public railways seldom provide enough income to attract private investors.
"All [of the initiatives] will be financed with rupiah because it is not commercial, it does not benefit [investors]," said Dwiatmoko Indonesia Expat in an interview. "This project is strictly the responsibility of the government." Dwiatmoko said the government never intended to attract private donors to the railway Trans-Sulawesi, for he knew from the start that it would be difficult to sell.
the rural island has an economic activity much less than its more urban neighboring islands of Sumatra and Java. for this reason, Dwiatmoko believes it will still be years before the private capitalists are taking a serious interest in infrastructure Sulawesi.
"regarding the construction of infrastructure, we can not [think too much about] make money or not. We believe the next 50 to 100 years, "says the director in his office in Jakarta Central. "If the railway does not currently exist in Sulawesi, it could be good. But if we are too late in the construction of railways [there] as [we were] in Jakarta? We are too late in the construction an MRT here and watch how the traffic is now. "
The railway Trans-Sulawesi project cost is estimated at Rp.216 billion (US $ 15 billion), and if the construction is carried out according to plan, the line is scheduled to start operating in 2018. However, Dwiatmoko said this year's budget for the project was at a mere Rp.971 billion (US $ 69 million), consisting of Rp.200 billion (US $ 14 million) for land acquisition , Rp.52 billion (US $ 4 million) for concrete installations and Rp.719 billion (US $ 51 million) for the construction of railroads.
"We aim to install 16.1 km of railways by December 2015," said Dwiatmoko. However, the project is already late. The first phase, the construction of a line of 145 kilometers from Makassar to Parepare - the two cities in south Sulawesi - was to begin in July, but was eventually postponed
local governments could not complete the land acquisition for a first stretch of 30 kilometers of land. June Dwiatmoko said he is sure that local governments will be able to acquire the remaining land needed when President Joko Widodo inaugurated the railway scene Trans-Sulawesi building come mid-October. "Jokowi has expected to be there [for the groundbreaking ceremony], "said Dwiatmoko, adding that the tracks will be imported from China and Japan. the two nations are also vying now the opportunity to help build the bullet train from West Java.
in August of 871 different plots of land that were to be acquired, only 458 have been set, said Dwiatmoko. The plan is that these important 30 kilometers of land will be purchased with the regional government budget in the amount of Rp.100 billion (US $ 7 million).
"Payment for land acquisition [using the regional budget] reached 60 percent and the rest will be completed this month," South Sulawesi transportation, communication and information office head Masykur Sulthan told the public in August Now Dwiatmoko said the rest of the first phase will be funded by the state budget, with the central government claims to have allocated Rp.200 billion (US $ 14 million) in an effort to acquire an additional 70 kilometers of land. "So that leaves us with 45 kilometers left railways [with no allocated budget yet]," he says.
Despite what the CEO said about the opening ceremony, the path iron Trans-Sulawesi, in fact, already had in 2014. the Minister of economy then coordination Chairul Tanjung was present. But alas, the project has been blocked since the ceremony, mainly due to lack of financing and that land acquisition rebus courses that are all too common in the archipelago.
Trans-Sulawesi fall under the nationwide railway project that seeks to fix Jokowi 12,100 km of routes to across the country and use US $ 60 billion between 2015 and 2030. Dwiatmoko said the ministry will need Rp.19.84 trillion (US $ 1.4 billion) to launch all railway projects this year.
Although no private investors will be involved in projects of this year, he said, was expected the private sector to contribute at least 70 percent of funds for railway projects over the next 15 years.
This is optimistic, given the foreign investors such as Japan and China will come into play, and many government policies run counter to these efforts -. Some laws encourage foreign private investment while others seem to protectionist and nationalist
"In this year, the national scale projects will be funded solely by the state budget due to partnership public-private [PPP] Kalimantan mechanism and Sumatra will not be feasible and cost effective, "reaffirms the general manager.
A diesel locomotive in Indonesia. Courtesy of Wikipedia Commons
with such a big budget issue, the anti-graft activists have also raised concerns that a mega project such as the Trans-Sulawesi railway is ripe for corruption in the form of embezzlement. a recent study of the Indonesia Corruption watch (ICW) shows infrastructure and regional budgets are the areas where money is often siphoned from. it places local administrators to the top of the list when it comes to this form corruption.
railway branch secretary of the Department Imran Rasyid said all transactions in the Trans-Sulawesi project are sure to be transparent and accountable. "No hard money will be involved. All transactions through bank accounts. In addition, the documents in the land acquisition process should be clear, as the original owner of […] land and if that person really possessed land before or not, "said Rasyid.
apart from Sulawesi, other major railway projects in the country will take place in Sumatra, Kalimantan, Java, Bali, and Papua. the government hopes to reduce costs high logistics of Indonesia, which often result in a lack of competitive goods prices in combat against those of other ASEAN countries.
that said, Dwiatmoko said a railway project as Trans Sulawes should stimulate the local economy by making it faster and easier for people to transport goods, making it a less dense population in Sulawesi more attractive to private investors. "what is important is the way iron exists first, then the application [for businesses] will start to happen, "he added.
The railways are also part of the "toll road sea" Jokowi maritime program, in which less than 11 major ports and power are currently being upgraded. The push is an effort to facilitate the movement of passengers from the east to the western parts of the archipelago, and vice versa.
aside from personal transport terminals, however, 13 ports will be specially designed to facilitate cargo handling. the ports are in two work areas managed by the port management company owned PT Pelabuhan Indonesia (Pelindo). Cities in Sulawesi, Makassar and as Parepare, are also included in the maritime program Jokowi.
Dwiatmoko suggests the fates of rail projects and maritime infrastructure are in fact intertwined he said. "If there are ports, but no inter-connection lands [to transport goods to and from the ports], maritime program will be all simply go to waste. "