Investor Withdrawal Halts Kalimantan Train Project

The government is looking for new investors for the railroad project in East Kalimantan. The head of the East Kalimantan Transportation Agency, Arih Frananta Filipus Sembiring, revealed that the Russian investors, Russian Railways (RZD), withdrew its support due to numerous problems. One of them was the unfeasibility of the coal train business.

The Russian Embassy to Indonesia argued the RZD’s withdrawal from the project was the result of the Indonesian government’s decision to move the capital to Kalimantan. The construction of the new capital city will disrupt the railroad. As a result, the East Kalimantan provincial administration will look for new investors to resume the halted project. “Because of the limited state budget, we expect local administrations to look for new investors using a business-to-business scheme,” he said.