East Kalimantan to send 300 students to Russian university

Jan 27:  The East Kalimantan administration announced plans on Monday to send 300 students to Russia to study railways.

“There are a lot of benefits from the contract with Russian Railways,” said Governor Awang Faroek Ishak.

“We want to give the youth of East Kalimantan, who are committed to the country’s development, the opportunity to study in Russia.”

Awang said 300 university students from across the province would be studying at the Moscow State University of Railway Engineering (MIIT), adding that he had signed a memorandum of understanding with the MIIT rector, Boris A. Levin, and the director of Kalimantan Railways, Andre Shigaey.

Russian Railways had previously stated its commitment to build a railway that will span 191 kilometers across Indonesia’s richest province.

Awang said that in sending the province’s best students to Russia, East Kalimantan would be preparing the human resources and technical knowledge needed to operate three railways in East Kalimantan: from West Kutai to Balikpapan; Muara Wahau to Lubuk Tutung; and Tabang to Lubuk Tutung.

Awang said he had recently visited MIIT and that the university had guaranteed that the Indonesian students would be provided with all the necessary facilities during their studies.

Prior to their departure, the selected students will go through an intensive language course.

Djauhari Oratmangun, the Indonesian ambassador to Russia, said during a visit last week to Samarinda, the East Kalimantan capital, that Russia was the right partner in the railway industry.

Denis Muratov, an adviser to the president of Russian Railways, said the company was investing $1.7 billion in a railway stretching from West Kutai district to Balikpapan, the country’s respective coal and oil hubs.

Muratov said the company had majority ownership for the project through its local unit, Kalimantan Rail, while a smaller stake was controlled by a private investor that he declined to name. More investors are expected to get on board the project.

Kalimantan Rail signed a memorandum of understanding with the East Kalimantan administration in February 2012 and since then it has done a thorough study for the project, including legal and land acquisition concerns.

The railway will be integrated with the port in Balikpapan and will have the annual capacity to carry up to 40 million metric tons of coal.

Established in September 2003, Russian Railways, a vertically integrated company, became one of the three largest transport companies in the world in 2012 and focuses on both freight and passenger services.

source: The Jakarta Globe