Govt told to speed up railway construction<\/p>\n
Nana Rukmana , The Jakarta Post, Cirebon, West Java<\/p>\n
The House of Representatives' transportation commission urged the
\ngovernment on Wednesday to speed up the double tracking of the
\nCikampek-Haurgeulis-Cirebon railway line in West Java.<\/p>\n
Currently, constructing is underway on the 54-kilometer-long
\nCikampek-Haurgeulis section of the line, and this will be
\nfollowed by work on the Haurgeulis-Cirebon section.<\/p>\n
"The government must keep its promise to complete it by the
\nend of this year," said Sumaryoto, the chairman of the
\ntransportation commission, while inspecting the preparations made
\nby the local government here for this year's Idul Fitri exodus.<\/p>\n
The project has been underway since last year. The funding for
\nthe work comes from loans provided by the government of China
\namounting to Rp 400 billion (US$47 million).<\/p>\n
Sumaryoto said that the construction of the double track
\nrailway would need to be completed soon in order to improve rail
\ntransportation on Java's north coast line.<\/p>\n
The north coast line has been congested for years, especially
\nduring the Idul Fitri holidays.<\/p>\n
Idul Fitri this year falls on Nov. 25 and Nov. 26.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of thousands of people from Jakarta usually return to
\ntheir respective hometowns in Central Java, East Java and other
\nareas to celebrate the holidays, and this leads to massive road
\nand rail congestion.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Sumaryoto pointed to another reason why the
\nconstruction of the railway had to be completed soon.<\/p>\n
"The government has to accept responsibility for use of the
\nloans that it obtained from the government of China.<\/p>\n
"The Indonesian government told them that it would complete
\nthe construction of the double tracking project this year, and
\nthe government has to keep this promise," Sumaryoto told
\nreporters here.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/govt-told-to-speed-up-railway-construction-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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