Construction Of Papua's First Railways To Start In 2016

Jakarta (Antara Bali) - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) said construction of railway infrastructure in Papua will start next year.

"I hope the feasibility study of the project would be wrapped up in the last quarter of 2015 that work could start to build the facility in 2016," Jokowi said here on Wednesday.

Development of the railway transport facility in Papua is to show that the government wants to bring prosperity to all regions in the country, he said .

"We don't want to hear people saying that the government is interested only in developing Java," Jokowi said when inaugurating the ground breaking ceremony of the Light Rail Transit (LRT) Indonesia at Taman Mini Indonesia Indah, here on Wednesday.

The government is expected to start work by the end of this month to build Trans Sulawesi Railway to link a number of provinces in that island.

Rail tracks are also expected to be built soon in Kalimantan mainly for the  transport of mining products including coals  and other commodities from the interior to coastal areas of the big island.    

Jokowi said  mass transport facility is also important to reduce congestion  especially in big cities like Jakarta. (WDY)