Indonesia’s first high-speed railway will begin operations in August, a senior cabinet minister told reporters recently, the Chinese-backed project to a successful terminus after years of delays and cost overruns.
“The trial runing will start by the end of May at the latest and it will be good to go,” Luhut said, according to a report by BenarNews. “We expect to start operating on August 18, 2023, as a gift for the 78th anniversary of Indonesia’s independence.”
The 142-kilometer rail line is set to link the capital Jakarta to the city of Bandung in West Java, greatly easing congestion along one of the most densely populated travel corridors in the world. The project, which is being spearheaded by the Indonesian-Chinese consortium PT Kereta Cepat Indonesia China (KCIC), has been beset by delays and cost overruns of various kinds.
Luhut further said the government was open to extending the concession period for the rail service, which was initially set at 50 years, as long as Indonesia remained the majority shareholder.
He said that public transportation projects were usually not profitable, but they provided social benefits for citizens.
China is funding projects in Indonesia as part of its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a worldwide infrastructure-building program.
