EAST JAVA: CHINESE SWEAT AND DIPLOMACY -- TRYING TO BUILD

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SURABAYA 000013 SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT FOR EAP, EAP/MTS, INR/EAP, EB E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL ID CH SUBJECT: EAST JAVA: CHINESE SWEAT AND DIPLOMACY -- TRYING TO BUILD INDONESIA'S LONGEST BRIDGE REF: 07 SURABAYA 78 COMMUNITIES UNPREPARED TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF SURABAYA-MADURA BRIDGE SURABAYA 00000013 001.2 OF 002 This message is sensitive but unclassified. Please protect accordingly. ¶1. (SBU) Summary: The bridge linking Surabaya and the nearby island of Madura is nearing completion. The Chinese continue efforts to transform their reported USD 1.6 billion in loans and financing into a milestone representative of China's increasingly close economic ties with Indonesia. China's Vice Premier Li Keqiang toured the site in late December 2008 and called the bridge evidence of China's 'strategic partnership' with Indonesia. ConGen Surabaya spoke with Chinese workers and Indonesian engineers at the site. Poor coordination has delayed work, while a clash of cultures complicates Chinese efforts to publicize their contribution. Residents on both sides remain unprepared for the changes the bridge will bring when it finally opens just two months from now. End Summary Chinese-Indonesian Partnership: Complex and Sensitive -------------- -------------- ¶2. (SBU) When completed in April 2009, the suspension bridge linking Surabaya with the nearby island of Madura will be Indonesia's longest. Built by a consortium of Chinese and Indonesian companies, the bridge symbolizes the complex relationship between China and Indonesia and the lingering distrust regarding Sino-Indonesian motives. Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang's December 21 visit to the Surabaya-Madura bridge, referred to locally as Suramadu, was accompanied by the "unfreezing" of USD 68.9 million, the final tranche of financing for the bridge. Photographs of Li's visit to the bridge received wide media coverage. The Chinese Consul General Mr. Fu Shuigen told us that there are no plans for another high-level visit by Chinese officials to open the bridge; but that might change. ¶3. (SBU) Historic sensitivities about wealthy Sino-Indonesians motivations persist. Our Indonesian guides to the Chinese worksite said local officials were miffed at the high-handed manner in which they were excluded from the visit of the Vice Minister and other Chinese officials while they toured the site. The presence of the Sino-Indonesian CEO of the Maspion Corporation among the delegation reinforced the impression that local Sino-Indonesians would benefit the most from the bridge. One Indonesian engineer told us that local professional staff had the impression that the Chinese construction company did not see Indonesian colleagues on the project as full partners. ¶4. (SBU) Indonesians on both sides of the strait told us that there is great sensitivity to using foreign labor on the bridge. The 300 Chinese construction workers try to keep a low profile, working on the Madura side where they are far from view. Chinese workers told us that most of the workers on site had worked on the bridge for more than two years. They live in air-conditioned dormitories built from cargo containers fastened to the deck of barges moored to the bridge's pylons. The workers only leave occasionally for trips to Surabaya. Hopefully Meeting in the Middle -------------- ¶5. (SBU) The Chinese consortium has completed 100% of the Madura side of the bridge, to include asphalt and lane markings. An Indonesian company has yet to complete the road bed on the Surabaya side. Differences in construction approaches visible on either side give the impression of two different bridge projects that hope to meet each other halfway. An Indonesian engineer told us that the Chinese pour the concrete road bed on site, while the Indonesian side relies on prefab roadbed sections prepared in a factory elsewhere. Difficulties making and transporting the slabs have slowed construction. ¶6. (SBU) No structures have appeared near the Madura bridge approaches on either side since our discussions with local officials in November 2007 (reftel). The 11 kilometer road linking the bridge to a two-lane trunk road running the length of Madura is roughly 60 percent complete. Fearing violence, authorities waited until after the East Java Governor's election in late January to issue a court order to secure the parcels of land needed to complete the road. Many people we spoke with in Madura had heard rumors of large land purchases by outside speculators. The Rector of a Madura's Trunojoyo University located only miles from the bridge, contradicted this saying local Madurese owned the land and would develop it eventually. After many decades of planning and false starts, Surabaya and Madura have yet to articulate a shared vision of how to take SURABAYA 00000013 002.2 OF 002 advantage of the bridge to change the provincial economy. MCCLELLAND