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In Walini, Minister Rini sees light at end of tunnel for high-speed railway project
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Into the light: Workers arrange equipment inside a giant tunnel built for the Indonesia-China high-speed railway project in Walini, West Bandung regency, West Java, on Feb. 21.
(The Jakarta Post/Wienda Parwitasari)
S
tate-Owned Enterprises (SOE) Minister Rini Soemarno has seen the light at the end of the tunnel for the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway project after witnessing the completion of one of the project’s most arduous tasks: the Walini Tunnel.
Following the completion of the tunnel, the minister was upbeat the China-funded project could be completed by 2021.
Rini expressed optimism during the inauguration of the 608-meter tunnel in Bandung, West Java, making it the first tunnel out of 13 others to be completed along the 142-kilometer railway route.
"We will finish it by 2021. By then, we will be the first to have a high-speed railway in Southeast Asia," Rini said on Tuesday.
She claimed the project would reach 59 percent progress by the end of 2019 and it now stood at 17 percent.
In 2018, the Indonesia-China consortium, PT Kereta Cepat Indonesia China (KCIC), the investor, had a tough time picking up speed on the project after facing land procurement issues.
The setback meant only 5 percent of progress was recorded in mid-2018, two years after President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo officiated the groundbreaking ceremony in 2016.
