Japan-RI Agrees to Accelerate Jakarta -Surabaya Rapid Train Project

By : Ahmad Fadli And Aldi Firhand. A | Tuesday, June 26 2018 - 22:36 IWST

Fast Trains (Hariyanto / INDUSTRY.co.id)

INDUSTRY.co.id - Jakarta - The Japanese government agreed to accelerate the construction of semi-fast Jakarta-Surabaya train infrastructure. This was expressed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Foreign Minister) Retno Marsudi Indonesia after a meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs Taro Kano.

"We agreed to speed up the development of Japanese investment protests in Indonesia such as MRT, Port Patimban, and trains from Jakarta to Surabaya," Foreign Minister Retno said in a press statement on Tuesday (26/6/2018).

The government decided to hook Japan as a partner in working on the project rapid train Jakarta-Surabaya in 2016 ago. The project was built with the method of soft loan financing, with a tenor of 40 years and a grace period of 10 years. The loan interest is set at 0.5 percent.

Retno did not specify how the scheme of acceleration of development in question further. Nevertheless, so far the government has declared that the construction of the fast train line will begin next year by building new crossings from Jakarta to Semarang.

Retno said Japan is the second largest investor in Indonesia with total investment of 5 billion US dollars in 2017 yesterday. The trade value of both countries also increased by 13.54 percent compared to the year 2016 amounted to 33 billion US dollars.

Seeing this, Retno said, diplomatic relations between Indonesia and Japan have grown more than just a strategic partner. Moreover, he continued, diplomatic relations between Indonesia and Japan have reached 60 years.

"Our partnership contributes not only to the people of Indonesia and Japan, but also to the peace, prosperity and stability of the region," said Retno.

Earlier, Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono said his country would help develop Indonesia's infrastructure and business climate. This is done to attract more investors from Japan.

Not only that, both countries also agreed to strengthen cooperation in the field of tourism. He revealed, Indonesia and Japan seeks to attract 1 million tourists for their respective countries. "I'm looking forward to working with Retno not only on bilateral issues, but also on the stability and well-being of the region and the world," Taro said.