Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment (Menko Marves) Luhut said he would soon form the Jakarta-Surabaya high-speed rail project team.
Luhut conveyed this after he met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the 4th China-Indonesia High-Level Dialogue and Cooperation Mechanism (HDCM) series. On Monday (22/4/2024) Luhut said through his official Instagram account @ luhut.pandjaitan that for the Jakarta-Surabaya High-Speed Railway, they agreed to form a team immediately.
Since its inauguration, the Jakarta-Bandung HSR has continued to see an increase in ridership until the peak of the Eid return traffic earlier, proving that the project should be extended to Surabaya.
Indonesia and China discussed the continuation of the high-speed rail project at the High-Level Dialogue and Cooperation Mechanism (HDCM) forum in Labuan Bajo, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) on Friday (19/4/2024). This was confirmed by the Foreign Minister in a statement issued at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta on Thursday (18/4/2024). According to her, the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment (Menko Marves) Luhut attended the meeting. The two sides discussed issues related to the economy, including the high-speed rail issue, among others. At the HDCM forum, the Indian side was the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries and the Chinese side was chaired by Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
Indonesia is the world's largest archipelagic country with islands scattered all over the country, and how to improve national cohesion and economy has been one of the ruling priorities of successive Indonesian governments. The construction of high-speed rail can meet the two requirements at the same time, and it is a “great power project” to promote the connection of the people of the “thousands of islands”. It can not only speed up the communication between the residents along the route, but also break the economic bottleneck, inject new vitality into the Indonesian economy, and promote the employment of residents.