China Railway set to win coal railway project in C. Kalimantan

A consortium led by China Railway Group Ltd is set to be named as the winning bidder for the construction of a 360-km coal railway project in Central Kalimantan, reports said on Thursday.

Bastary Pandji Indra, a director at the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas), was quoted by Kontan daily as saying that China Railway was seen to have the necessary financing capacity and technology capability to develop the US$2.5 billion project.

Members of the consortium include PT Mega Guna Ganda Semesta, and PT Royal Energi.

Three other consortia have previously expressed interest to develop the project including PT Itochu-Toll consortium; Drydocks World LLC-PT MAPS Resources Indonesia; and PT Bakrie-SNC Lavallin-Thyssenccrupp consortium.

But Hanggoro Budi Wiryawan, a director at the Directorate General of Railway Transportation, said that only the China Railway-led consortium made the bid.

The government is expected to officially announce the winning bidder for the project in May, pending the completion of document verification process, said Syahrin Daulay, a Central Kalimantan administration official, who is also head of the bidding committee as quoted by Bisnis Indonesia daily.

The coal railway, which will be also used to transport other commodities, will have the capacity to transport 30 million tons of coal per year, linking five regencies in the province.(*)