Balikpapan, E Kalimantan, March 20 (ANTARA Kaltim) - Large cities in Kalimantan will be connected by railway lines by 2017, Transportation Minister Ignasius Jonan said here on Friday.
"Railway lines will stretch no less than 2,000 kilometers from Pontianak up to Samarinda through Banjarmasin," he stated at Sepinggan airport.
A budget of Rp25 trillion will be allocated for the project for five years, with a feasibility study, land acquisition, and license process worth Rp60 billion starting this year.
"A feasibility study, license process, and land acquisition will be carried out in 2015," he noted, adding that the construction will begin in 2016 and the project is expected to finish in 2017.
Jonan has asked regions to provide land for the project and conduct an environmental impact analysis of the project.
East Kalimantan governor Mukmin Faisjal, who accompanied the minister in Balikpapan, expressed his readiness to carry out all the tasks.
"(I will do anything) For the sake of the prosperity and welfare of the people," he stated.
Based on the provisional results of a study, railway tracks in Kalimantan must be wider than those in Java. According to an expert staff of the minister, Hadi Mustofa Djuraid, tracks will be 1,435 meters wide or wider as those in Java, which are 1,067 meters wide, to anticipate land type that is mostly soft clay in Kalimantan.
If the width of railway tracks is broader, engines and carriages used will also be wider, Mustofa remarked, adding that engines to be used later might possibly be of the diesel electric type, Mustofa explained.
"The operator will be PT KAI, who is also the operator in Java," he noted.
Minister Jonan is scheduled to visit Palangkaraya in Central Kalimantan. Before leaving for Jakarta, he will also stop at Pontianak in West Kalimantan. (*)
