Govt told to speed up railway construction

Govt told to speed up railway construction

Nana Rukmana , The Jakarta Post, Cirebon, West Java

The House of Representatives' transportation commission urged the
government on Wednesday to speed up the double tracking of the
Cikampek-Haurgeulis-Cirebon railway line in West Java.

Currently, constructing is underway on the 54-kilometer-long
Cikampek-Haurgeulis section of the line, and this will be
followed by work on the Haurgeulis-Cirebon section.

"The government must keep its promise to complete it by the
end of this year," said Sumaryoto, the chairman of the
transportation commission, while inspecting the preparations made
by the local government here for this year's Idul Fitri exodus.

The project has been underway since last year. The funding for
the work comes from loans provided by the government of China
amounting to Rp 400 billion (US$47 million).

Sumaryoto said that the construction of the double track
railway would need to be completed soon in order to improve rail
transportation on Java's north coast line.

The north coast line has been congested for years, especially
during the Idul Fitri holidays.

Idul Fitri this year falls on Nov. 25 and Nov. 26.

Hundreds of thousands of people from Jakarta usually return to
their respective hometowns in Central Java, East Java and other
areas to celebrate the holidays, and this leads to massive road
and rail congestion.

Meanwhile, Sumaryoto pointed to another reason why the
construction of the railway had to be completed soon.

"The government has to accept responsibility for use of the
loans that it obtained from the government of China.

"The Indonesian government told them that it would complete
the construction of the double tracking project this year, and
the government has to keep this promise," Sumaryoto told
reporters here.