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ineteen investors have expressed their interest in participating in a tender for the much-anticipated airport express train connecting Halim Perdanakusuma Airport in East Jakarta and Indonesia'€™s main gateway Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang.

'€œSeveral local and international investors have sent proposals to PT SMI [state infrastructure-financing company PT Sarana Multi Infrastruktur] to participate in the tender,'€ Transportation Ministry railway director Hanggoro Budi Wiryawan told reporters at the House of Representatives on Monday.

He said that local investors, including the nation'€™s largest domestic airline, Lion Air, and international investors from China, South Korea, Japan and the US had submitted their proposals to join the tender set to commence next month.

'€œLion Air expressed its interest as early as last year. We are still waiting for the follow-up,'€ he said.

According to Hanggoro, foreign investors would have to team up with local investors should they win the tender for the Rp 26-trillion (US$2.21 billion) project.

He said his ministry would soon hold a meeting with the Finance Ministry to discuss the possibility of using the Viability Gap Funding mechanism that would allow the government to use state funds to cover up to 50 percent of the total value of an infrastructure project using a Public-private partnership (PPP) arrangement.

The 33.68-kilometer-long express track will have stations at Halim Perdanakusuma, Manggarai in South Jakarta, Dukuh Atas and Tanah Abang in Central Jakarta, Pluit in North Jakarta, as well as at Soekarno-Hatta.

The railway project, the construction of which is expected to commence in 2015, will have a sections of both elevated and underground tracks. The express train is expected to commence operations in 2019.

The Transportation Ministry predicts that the express train will cater to around 20 to 25 percent of travelers using Soekarno-Hatta, which will lessen the traffic congestion on the toll roads to the country'€™s busiest airport.

The train'€™s tickets will be priced at between Rp 100,000 and Rp 150,000 per passenger, according to Hanggoro, who added that the express train would transport passengers from Halim to Soekarno-Hatta within 30 minutes.

The express train stations would be built in Soekarno-Hatta'€™s second and third terminals, and would be integrated with the airport'€™s automated people mover system (APM) between the terminals.

The government is also accelerating the construction of a double-track railway connecting Manggarai to Soekarno-Hatta by using the commuter line tracks.

This commuter line airport train is expected to support the Halim'€“Soekarno-Hatta express train. Using the commuter line tracks, airline passengers will take 45 minutes to get to the airport from Manggarai.