RI gets $260m from World Bank
RI gets $260m from World Bank
JAKARTA (JP): The World Bank has approved loans totaling
US$260 million to finance infrastructure projects in Sulawesi and
improve railway networks in Java.
The bank stated that $155 million of the loan would finance
the Second Sulawesi Urban Development project and the remaining
$105 million would be allocated to the Railway Efficiency
project.
The Sulawesi project, with a total cost of $272 million, would
receive the remaining $117 million from various levels of the
government.
The bank said the railway project's cost is estimated at
$207.3 million, 51 percent of which will be financed by its $105
million loans. Australia would provide around $56 million in
loans for the project with the Indonesian government contributing
the remainder.
According to the bank's statement, the Sulawesi project would
continue policies of improved infrastructure planning and
programming, strengthen local government management capacity and
enhance community participation.
The loan would also assist Sulawesi's urban services and
related environmental management and maintenance activities in
the face of an annual population growth of 5 percent in its urban
areas.
The loan for the country's railway efficiency project would
upgrade service quality through policy reform to restructure the
railway enterprise into a state-owned limited liability company,
the bank stated.
The restructure would comprise of management strengthening,
government compensation for the railway's public service
obligations and maintenance and operational costs and
implementation of an expanded private participation strategy.
The project is also designed to improve the important railway
corridor between Jakarta and Bandung by increasing its capacity
and shortening journey times.
The project would also implement a modern track maintenance
system and diesel electric locomotive exchange maintenance system
in Java, in which all of these measures are important to meet the
annual transport growth rate of 7 percent. (01)