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Indonesia’s China-built high-speed rail project on track despite cost overrun of US$2 billion
- President Joko Widodo, who inspected a new railway station, said the project was 88.8 per cent complete and its commercial launch is expected in June 2023
- The 142-km line will connect the capital Jakarta with West Java’s Bandung
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A high-speed railway project in Indonesia, part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, is on track for a 2023 launch despite ongoing negotiations between the two countries about the project being over-budget, officials said on Thursday.
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President Joko Widodo inspected a new railway station, where the consortium building the railway, PT KCIC, displayed a stationary China-made bullet train on the tracks. The 142-km line will connect the capital Jakarta with one of the country’s largest cities, Bandung.
“This will be the first high-speed rail in Asean and we hope this will increase connectivity between countries, whether this [the railway] will be connected further to an airport or other high-speed railways,” he said, referring to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Jokowi, as the president is popularly known, said the project was 88.8 per cent complete and its commercial launch is expected in June 2023.
KCIC has said the project is facing a cost overrun of about US$2 billion, raising the estimated total cost to 113 trillion rupiah (US$7.36 billion). China estimates the project is less than US$1 billion over budget, according to Koran Tempo newspaper.
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