Railway open for private companies

Railway open for private companies

JAKARTA (JP): Private investors can now participate in the
construction and operation of railway networks.

The president of the state-owned railway company Perumka,
Soemino Eko Saputro, said yesterday that several private
companies have already submitted proposals for the construction
and operation of railway networks in Sumatra.

"Six companies have proposed to participate in two railway
network projects in Sumatra which will serve cargo
transportation. We will study the proposals carefully as the
business is very promising," he said. He refused to name the six
companies.

Sumatra is well-known for its coal and plantation commodity
production.

Soemino said that his company will probably offer two kinds of
businesses cooperation with private firms: the revenue sharing
contracts and joint operating schemes.

Chief of Perumka's planning, research and development center,
Sjahrizal Siregar, said in a recent seminar that investment
activities in railway transportation is currently limited to the
development of infrastructure, rolling stock and other
facilities.

However, he said cooperation could extend to the development
of completely new networks, new network as extensions of the
existing network and new networks running parallel to and
connected with existing ones.

Other possible projects include new networks in the same
corridor which are operated as separate systems, Sjahrizal said.
He said the planned high-speed train service linking Jakarta and
Surabaya, East Java, via Semarang in Central Java, was an example
of this.

Soemino said that Perumka's revenues would have to increase as
a result of joint operation projects with private firms.icn)