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ndonesia will cooperate with Japan to speed up the revitalization of a key railway network linking Jakarta and Surabaya — Indonesia’s second-biggest city — after the latter lost a bid against China last year to construct Indonesia’s first high-speed train.

Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan is scheduled to fly to Tokyo on Dec. 20 to meet several top Japanese officials to discuss a raft of key infrastructure projects, in particular the finalization of loans for the project.

Luhut told The Jakarta Post recently that Indonesia would require around US$2.6 billion in loans from Japan for the first phase of the railway revitalization. The loans, he said, would carry less than 1 percent interest per annum and a grace period of 10 years under a 40-year tenor.

“My visit is to finalize the loan plan so that the feasibility study [on the project] can be immediately completed. The loans are so lucrative, and it will be to our disadvantage if we cannot tap into them,” he said.

“The project is crucial as it will also absorb hundreds of thousands of workers,” he said.

The railway revitalization was among several key infrastructure projects officially discussed by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo in late May as signs abound that Indonesia’s current administration harbors little affection for Japan amid China’s economic assertiveness.

A deal on Japan’s railway loans may place hurdles in front of China’s ambition to expand its high-speed railway network into Surabaya as its current project will only link Jakarta with Indonesia’s fourth-biggest city, Bandung in West Java.

The semi high-speed Jakarta-Surabaya railway will have trains running between 180 and 200 kilometers per hour and would shorten the travel time between Jakarta and Surabaya to 3.5 hours from more than 12 hours.

The government has planned a double track railway so that it can be utilized to support the transfer of containers in dry ports between Jakarta, Semarang and Surabaya.

Aside from the railway project, Luhut will also report to his counterparts in Japan the progress in the development of the Patimban deep-sea port project in Subang, West Java.

Construction for the $3.09 billion project is expected to start in the middle of next year, Luhut said, adding that the government is in the process of expediting the settlement for all administrative problems, including ones related to spatial planning.

Luhut will also discuss maritime economic cooperation with Japan with a proposal to develop Subang in Aceh — Indonesia’s eastern tip located within the entrance of the busy Malacca Strait.