With the financial burden now under scrutiny, Indonesia is looking toward Japan’s rival China after it showed interest in participating in the project, almost two years after it whisked away Japan’s chances of leading Indonesia’s first highspeed railway project connecting Jakarta with Indonesia’s fourth biggest city Bandung in West Java.

The semi high-speed railway, which will cut the journey between Jakarta and Surabaya in East Java to just three-and-a-half hours from more than 12 hours, is meant to be Indonesia’s gift to placate Japan after it expressed its discontent over losing out against China.

A string of meetings between President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe since last year has included the discussion on how to get the project immediately off the ground, with Indonesia assuring that the Rp 102 trillion (US$7.66 billion) project would be another landmark project for Japan.

But a meeting on Wednesday at the Office of the Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister rendered a bleak prospect for the project, which aims at revitalizing the existing Jakarta-Surabaya line.

Given the complex state of the existing line, the government is considering creating an entirely new track because proceeding with revitalizing the existing line will risk a surge in costs that may ultimately put into question the project’s feasibility.

Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan explained how the existing line did not have the foundation to be upgraded and facilitate faster trains.

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