T

he government will go ahead with its plan to develop the country'€™s first high-speed railway despite lack of permits and opposition from lawmakers.

President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo issued a regulation on Friday containing a list of about 200 strategic projects including the development of the high-speed rail. By including the rail project in the list, the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed rail will receive special backing and attention from the government.

In the regulation, the President also instructed ministers and local leaders to issue the required licenses to ensure the projects could be carried out according to plan. The regulation, also mandates local legislative councils to support it and, if needed, to change their provincial spatial plans in order to ensure the projects are realized.

Jokowi has expressed a strong commitment to the high-speed rail project. He recently wrote on his official Twitter account that the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed rail was '€œa part of our big plan to connect the main cities in Java with those outside Java'€, adding that the train '€œis the future of our mass transportation'€.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, the President stopped short of commenting on the controversies surrounding the rail project, but promised the government would soon disclose all information related to the project.

'€œComprehensive details will later be disclosed, including the process, the meetings and the costs ['€¦] everything,'€ Jokowi said on Friday, adding that the details would be issued next week.

The railway, spanning 142.3 kilometers, has been estimated to require US$5.5 billion of investment, with the majority of the funds to be provided by China Development Bank.

A joint venture called PT Kereta Cepat Indonesia China (KCIC), comprising four Indonesian state enterprises, including state railway firm PT Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI), and the China Railway Corporation, will manage the project.

The government has pledged not to use the state budget to fund the project, planning to use a business-to-business scheme. Japan failed to secure the project as it could not offer a proposal under such a framework.

It is targeted to begin construction early this year and be operational by 2019. However, project development has been on hold due to various problems despite the holding of the groundbreaking ceremony last week, officiated by Jokowi himself.

The Transportation Ministry, for example, has yet to issue a construction permit and concession due to the lack of required documents. Environmental issues have created hurdles to obtaining a permit, while the concession is yet to be signed because the government has not yet agreed with the joint venture'€™s demand to jointly guarantee the project.

Obtaining a government guarantee for the project is another potential roadblock. The presidential regulation contains a stipulation for the government guarantee, however, the Transportation Ministry insisted that it would not sign the concession if the government was required to guarantee the project.

The regulation issued by Jokowi on Friday also contradicts the previous Presidential Regulation No. 107/2015 on the acceleration of the high speed railway, in which it was stated that a government guarantee would not be provided.

State-Owned Enterprises Minister Rini Soemarno repeated the government'€™s commitment not to spend any taxpayer money on the project, despite the regulation stating otherwise. '€œIt says we '€˜can'€™, it doesn'€™t mean we should,'€ she said.

Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro, made a similar statement, saying that the previous agreement stipulated that '€œthere should not be any state budget allocation'€, he said as quoted by kompas.com.

However, KCIC president director acknowledged that the company demanded a '€œpolitical guarantee'€.

'€œWe want it to be stated in the concession. Similar to our position on loans, if something happens in the middle [of the construction], who will take the responsibility? Without it, the lenders won'€™t agree on it,'€ he said.