Minister Says High-Speed Railway Project Should Be Supported

Jakarta (Antara Bali)- State Enterprises Minister Rini M Soemarno has said everyone should support the construction of high-speed railway because it will bring a lot of benefits to the Indonesian nation.

"We will become the first country in ASEAN to have a high-speed train. Later, (we will handle the issue of) transfer of technology. This is a potential (project) that has to be developed together," Minister Rini said in a discussion organized by the Association of the Ten November Institute of Technology's Alumni, here, Saturday.

She said she was aware of the criticism about why the government did not select Sulawesi or Kalimantan for such a project.

The minister said she agreed that those regions must be developed. The Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway project will not use funds from the State Budget, because the budget is prioritized for infrastructure development outside the Java Island.

However, this does not mean that development in Java should be stopped. Indonesia should be more competitive and is often perceived to have lagged behind in constructing public transportation infrastructure.

The plan to develop high-speed railway started when President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) visited China.

After a joint study with China, the project was considered implementable without the government's financing nor guarantee.

The project is also expected to help develop an unproductive area of state-owned plantation company, PTPN VIII in Walini, West Java. (WDY)