Indonesia is one of the fastest growing economies in Southeast Asia. One of the biggest recent foreign investments has come from China, which is building the country’s first high-speed railway.

Construction began in February. It is a joint project between a consortium of Indonesian state-owned companies and China Railway International. Experts say it could become a financial and operational model for other important infrastructure projects in the region.

The Jakarta-Bandung high speed railway should cut travel time between the two cities from three hours to less than 40 minutes.

"This is the first international cooperative project in which China has brought its entire industrial chain model to another country," said He Huawu, chief engineer with China Railway Corp.

"The complete high-speed railway operation system includes technology, operations, equipment and construction that will be used as a reference for other international projects in the future."

The 150-kilometer high-speed railway between Jakarta and Bandung is expected to create more than 41,000 jobs during its construction. When finished, it will be able to carry 44,000 passengers a day.

"Building the high-speed railway in Indonesia is a landmark in the implementation of the One Belt One Road Initiative, it is a major breakthrough in international capacity and equipment cooperation," said Chinese ambassador to Indonesia Xie Feng.

"It also shows that China is implementing a 'periphery policy' with neighboring countries. Through joint discussion and construction, and sharing a new model of mutual beneficial relations, it is clear that we are together in building a community with a common destiny, and common interests."

Experts say the high speed rail will provide a boost to local industries, such as power generation and logistics. China has built a number of major bridges and ports, and cooperated on other large-scale infrastructure projects within ASEAN, such as the Suramadu Bridge and the Hydropower Plant in Bandung.

The Suramadu Bridge is one of the most significant cooperative projects between China and Indonesia, a symbol of the two countries’ economic and technical cooperation. It is the longest trans-oceanic bridge in Southeast Asia, linking East Java province and Madura Island in Indonesia. Most important of all, the bridge has been of benefit to people living in Indonesia.

People here say the bridge has changed their living conditions significantly, and they are hoping more infrastructure projects will come to Indonesia soon.

Indonesia is the biggest economy in Southeast Asia. But experts say it missed most of its economic targets in 2015, resulting in its slowest growth since 2009. The Jakarta government is now banking on infrastructure development and foreign investment as part of a renewed push for economic growth. The region hopes to achieve bilateral trade with China worth U.S.$500 billion by the end of this year and U.S.$1 trillion by 2020.

"Today, we run a trade deficit with China: U.S.$14 billion a year, approximately, U.S.$14 billion flowing out from Indonesia to China, and one way to make that more sustainable is to make the capital came back to Indonesia in a form of investment or for example tourism," said Indonesian Minister of Trade Tom Lebong.

"That is why President Joko Widodo is working seriously with President Xi Jinping to get to the investment into Indonesia, to improve the sustainability and balance the relationship.

"I think the bullet train project is the first step to start that process and again to make the capital to flow out of Indonesia from trade deficit to come back to Indonesia in the form of investment."

Experts say high-speed rail will have a strong "multiplier effect" for economic growth in countries throughout Southeast Asia, where new infrastructure development is in hot demand. As cooperation deepens, more projects will be on the way to benefit local residents.

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