Jakarta welcomes investors for its subway project
JAKARTA (JP): Governor Sutiyoso welcomed on Thursday the interest of a Taiwan-based consortium to take part in the country's first subway project here, which has been lagging due to uncertainty over financial sources.
Speaking to reporters after meeting a group of three visiting business representatives from Taipei, Sutiyoso said that his administration was hopeful that the Taiwanese consortium would be able to provide a soft loan similar to that offered earlier by the Japanese government.
"I don't know whether the consortium will be able to do it or not. They are from the private sector, not the government sector like the Japanese," the governor said.
Sutiyoso, however, gave no further explanation of the "interest" of the Taiwanese, who were accompanied by agriculture expert Bungaran Saragih and a local man.
"I know nothing about the meeting," Bungaran, a senior lecturer at Bogor's Agriculture Institute, told reporters.
There were also no words from the visiting Taiwanese, one of whom named himself as a deputy secretary general of the Kuomintang nationalist party.
Their company's name was also unavailable but city officials said that they specialize in constructing airports, highways and subways.
The city administration has proposed the construction of the mega-project, estimated to cost some US$1.5 billion, since 1997, when former president Soeharto still ruled the country.
It was postponed after the country was hit by the monetary crisis.
The Japanese government had earlier given its commitment to finance the project, promising a special yen loan with a 7.5 percent annual interest rate. The special loan will have a maturity period of 40 years with a grace period of 10 years.
The project already received strong support from both President Abdurrahman Wahid and Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri.
Until today, there has been no clear signals about when the construction would start.
No sign
The central government has given no clear sign about whether or not they still support the plan and whether they would help seek foreign investors to realize the project.
"I don't think the central government is giving top priority to the project. I heard it's been placed on third priority," Sutiyoso said on Thursday.
"We don't know for sure when the construction will begin if it's placed in third priority," he added.
The first stage of the subway project will serve a 15- kilometer route from Fatmawati in South Jakarta to the National Monument (Monas) park in Central Jakarta with 13 stations, before continuing on to downtown Kota in West Jakarta.
Assistant to the City Secretary for Development Affairs Ongky Sukasah, who also attended the meeting with the Taiwanese, said the delegates also conveyed their intention to import hydrocarbon resources from Indonesia.
"Once they're committed to invest in the project, they will import crude oil, coal and natural gas in large quantities. But they need a guarantee that we'll be able to provide the supply over a long term," he told The Jakarta Post.
Head of City Development Planning Board Bambang Sungkono, who was also at the meeting, said it was almost impossible for the city administration to take an off-shore loan.
"Although we have Law No. 25/1999 on Central and Regional Financial Balance, I don't think the central government will allow us to self-finance the project by taking an off-shore loan," he said. (nvn)