Indonesia offers US$6.14 bln high-speed rail project
Jakarta (ANTARA News/Asia Pulse) -- Indonesia's Transport Ministry has invited investors to build a US$6.14 billion high-speed train and track project covering a distance of 683 kilometers between Jakarta and Surabaya in East Java.Railway Director General Wendy Aritenang Yazid said the government will facilitate the process of securing the license and guarantee legal certainty for investors agreeing to build and operate the project.
Prospective investors may build and operate the project without involving the state-owned railway company PT Kereta Api, Yazid said.
Source:
Business in Asia Today - March. 31, 2009
published by Asia Pulse
--------------------
Gempa 5,3 SR Guncang Gorontalo
(ANTARA/BMG)
Berdasarkan data dari Badan Meteorologi dan Geofisika Provinsi Gorontalo, gempa terjadi pada 1,44 derajat Lintang Utara dan 122,69 derajat Bujur Timur.
Gempa berkedalaman 25 kilometer di atas permukaan laut tersebut, berpusat di sekitar 108 kilometer Barat Laut Gorontalo.
Gempa sempat dirasakan oleh sebagian warga dan membuat panik, terutama yang berada di bangunan berlantai dua.
Tadinya saya mengira hanya angin kencang, tapi kok jendela kaca bergetar dan lampu pada goyang, ujar salah seorang warga, Mila di Gorontalo, Minggu.
Gempa tersebut hanya sesaat dirasakan warga, sehingga warga langsung kembali ke dalam rumah masing-masing.
Gempa dengan kekuatan 7,7 SR pernah mengguncang wilayah Gorontalo pada November 2007 dan mengakibatkan ratusan rumah rusak dan seorang warga meninggal dunia.
(Berita ini diambil dari ANTARA, Indonesia, 4 Oktober 2009)
***** *****
Top U.S. commander: Iran big player in Afghanistan
LONDON (IRNA) -- The top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan says the Islamic Republic of Iran is a “big player” in Afghanistan.
“Being in such proximity with Afghanistan, Iran has been having a significant influence inside Afghanistan and is a big player,” General McChrystal told reporters and experts in a special address to London’s International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS) Thursday.
Referring to Iran’s contribution to Afghanistan’s development, he said Iran has been having “a lot of very positive influence inside Afghanistan” in many areas.
He said Iran is having anything a neighbour would have to try to build stability.
General McChrystal said Iran plays a big role in Afghanistan and therefore could play an important role in the country’s stability in future.
""If Iran takes a matured look at a stable Afghanistan and support the government of Afghanistan, then it will be in good shape.”
He said international forces in Afghanistan are “under-resourced, under-coordinated and under-performed”, calling for a change of mindset by foreigners towards the Afghan culture and society.
McChrystal, who called in his assessment of the war in Afghanistan last week for the reinforcement of troops, said the ISAF is facing “undesired and unexpected” outcomes in Afghanistan.
“We must protect Afghans from enemy and our own actions. The coalition force has been ineffective in its operations although many projects have been implemented with regards to health, education, drinking water and roads in Afghanistan.”
General McChrystal said the situation in Afghanistan is now “so serious and that neither success nor failure can be taken for granted.”
He added that the Taliban insurgency has returned and violence is increasing.
Referring to cultural and linguistic differences between the ISAF forces and Afghan people, the American commander said they needed “humility” in Afghanistan should they want to win the eight-year war.
“If you are a pedestrian or driver in London and an army convoy moves through your city like that they push you off the road, force you to stop for a long period, or they point a weapon at you, I think, you might be tolerant initially but will soon start to be resentful because this is the same force that came to protect and respect you and yet they act like you are the enemy.”
General McChrystal said the ISAF will not win the war on Afghanistan “by destroying the Taliban and successful military operations”.
“We win when the people (of Afghanistan) decide we win.”
In his assessment of the war in Afghanistan last week, General McChrystal called for additional troops and warned about the “failure” of the international force in Afghanistan.
He is seeking as many as 40,000 additional American troops for this war. This is in addition to the 21,000 reinforcements Barak Obama has already promised, bringing the number of American troops to 68,000 by this fall.
If 40,000 more soldiers were deployed, the total American commitment would be close to the 110,000 troops deployed by the Soviet Union during its occupation of Afghanistan in the 1970s.
There are also some 35,000 allied troops in Afghanistan.
(This news from IRNA, Iran, Oktober 4, 2009).
No response to “BERITA”
Post a Comment