Indonesia boosts railway, aviation cooperation with RoK, China

Indonesian Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi (Photo: antaranews.com)

Jakarta (VNA) – Indonesia is negotiating with partners from the Republic of Korea (RoK) and China to boost cooperation in transport infrastructure that facilitates economic development, said Indonesian Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi.

The minister is making a working visit to the RoK and China from January 9–13 to discuss cooperation in the railways and aviation sectors.

During the visit, he is scheduled to meet ministers and industry representatives in the two countries to discuss a plan to build a Light Rail Transit (LRT) in Bali, an Autonomous Rail Transit (ART) in the Nusantara capital city (IKN), high-technology railway communication and signalling networks, and explore the possibility of cooperation regarding commercial aircraft, the minister said.

In the RoK, Budi will meet with leaders and representatives from transport and banking agencies to talk about cooperation plans and funding for those projects in the coming time, particularly the LRT project in Bali, which will be the first rail-based mass transportation in Bali, and is expected to be the solution for traffic jams.

In China, Budi planned to meet China’s Minister of Transport and several other parties, including the leader of the China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation (CRRC) to discuss continued cooperation in the construction of the ART mass transportation train in IKN.

He will also meet the leader of Huawei to explore cooperation potential regarding an intelligent and high-tech railway system. Huawei is the company that built the communication network for the Whoosh High-Speed Train connecting Jakarta and Bandung.

Within the visit’s framework, Budi will also meet executives of the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC) to explore investment potential in the aviation sector. COMAC is the current main aircraft supplier for Indonesia's domestic airline TransNusa./.