JAKARTA, Aug 12 (NNN-ANTARA) – Indonesia planned to build over ten thousand kilometres of railways until 2030, to support people’s mobility and transports of goods in the country, Transportation Minister, Budi Karya Sumadi said on Tuesday.
Sumadi pointed out that, among the areas where the construction of the 10,524 km long railways would be carried out are, those in the main islands of Sumatra and Java, which are home to about 80 percent of the country’s over 260 million people.
The planned railway construction would lengthen the existing ones, which have already been operating across the country, such as the 1,796 km long railways on Sumatra Island, the 4,131 km long railways on Java Island and 45 km long railways on Sulawesi Island, according to local media.
The construction of the railways would also be undertaken for transporting goods and people from and to seaports and airports, a senior official at the Transportation Ministry, Zulfikri, said.
The Southeast Asian biggest economy has striven to speed up and decline the cost of transports of goods to bring down the inflation rate and boost competitiveness of export products.
President Joko Widodo, who focused on construction of infrastructure facilities since he took office, ordered authorities to pave the way for the flows of goods and simplify bureaucracy in sea ports, one of the main gates for export and import activities, across the vast archipelagic country.– NNN-ANTARA
