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tate-run construction company PT Wijaya Karya (Wika) is aiming to reap big from a US$5.5 billion high-speed railway (HSR) project, which is expected to help the company double its new contracts this year.

Wika corporate secretary Suradi Wongso said the railway project was set to be launched on Wednesday next week, and the project alone might generate around Rp 17 trillion ($1.23 billion) worth of new contracts for the company this year.

The contracts to be generated from the project will account for around one-third of Wika'€™s targeted new contracts this year, which is expected to amount to Rp 52.3 trillion, according to Suradi.

'€œThe new contracts will be noted in advance in our order book this year. There will be no other new contracts from the project until its conclusion in late 2018. Meanwhile, civil works from the project will be booked in our revenue, gradually starting this year,'€ he explained.

The HSR project is designed to connect Jakarta with West Java'€™s capital, Bandung, with trains running at over 250 kilometers per hour on a 140-kilometer-long track.

It is slated to be finished by the end of 2018 and to operate in June 2019.

The high-speed railway will be constructed by Kereta Cepat Indonesia China (KCIC), which is 60-percent owned by a consortium of state-run companies led by Wika and 40-percent owned by China Railway International Co Ltd.

Publicly listed Wika holds a 38 percent stake in the consortium, which also involves railway operator PT Kereta Api Indonesia, toll road operator PT Jasa Marga and plantation company PT Perkebunan Nasional VIII.

With the HSR project, Wika aims to see its new-contract realization double from last year'€™s Rp 25.33 trillion, which was around 80 percent of its initial target of Rp 31.65 trillion.

Wika has cited bureaucracy, the economic slowdown and sluggish infrastructure spending as reasons for its relatively poor new-contract performance in 2015.

Wika is upbeat that business will be better this year, with bidding for new construction projects starting to show progress.

Around 63 percent of this year'€™s targeted new contracts is expected to come from privately funded projects, according to Wika'€™s document, while 21 percent and 16 percent is expected to be contributed by state budget-funded projects and projects coming from other state-owned enterprises, respectively.

The privately funded projects will include the HSR project, as President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo has barred the project from receiving state funding, including the state capital injection (PMN) that the company had proposed but the disbursement of which has been stalled.

Suradi said Wika would allocate Rp 10.59 trillion for capital expenditure (capex) this year, including around Rp 4 trillion the builder expects to pocket from the capital injection.

As previously reported, Wika is planning to use the capital injection to finance a number of toll-road and power-plant projects, as well as an industrial estate in Kuala Tanjung, North Sumatra.

Wika, according to Suradi, is aiming to see its sales this year increase by around 24 percent to Rp 26.49 trillion, from last year'€™s estimate of around Rp 21.43 trillion.

The company has forecast that its net profits will reach Rp 750.15 billion by the end of 2016.