Director of state-owned railway operator PT Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI) Didiek Hartantyo said on Wednesday that the two leaders would witness the trial run for a 20-kilometer journey between Tegal Luar and Cikopo stations near Bandung, West Java.
President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are scheduled to have a virtual session on the sideline of the Group of Twenty (G20) Summit next week to inspect the progress in the construction of the high-speed train connecting Jakarta and Bandung, West Java.
Director of state-owned railway operator PT Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI) Didiek Hartantyo said on Wednesday that the two leaders would witness the trial run for a 20-kilometer journey between Tegal Luar and Cikopo stations near Bandung on Nov. 16.
"The so-called dynamic trial of the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed train that President Jokowi and President Xi Jinping will witness online from Bali will involve a 20 km trip between Tegal Luar and Cikopo," Didiek said as quoted by Kompas.com.
Didiek said that the construction project for the high-speed train is now 79.51 percent completed and he expected that by December this year all construction works including the laying of the track and stations, including the Padalarang station, would be completed.
The Jakarta-Bandung high-speed train has been delayed several times due to multiple reasons.
After its inception in 2016, the US$6 billion project was initially expected to be completed in 2019, but it was delayed mainly because of land-acquisition problems.
In October, President Jokowi maintained that the high-speed train project was an investment and not foreign aid from the Chinese government.
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