Jakarta (VNA) – The Indonesia Railway DevelopmentConsortium (IRDC) is planning to build a railroad at a cost of 28 trillion Rp(1.98 billion USD) connecting Laos with Vietnam.
The project is part of an agreement signed between the IRDC,Laos’ Petroleum Trading Lao Public Co. (Petrotrade), and Vietnam’s HTInvestment Construction Management Co. Ltd. The deal was sealed during abilateral meeting between Indonesian President Joko Widodo and Lao PrimeMinister Thongloun Sisoulith in 2017.
The railway, designed to span 400km from Thakhaek districtin Khammuan province of Laos to Vung Ang seaport in Vietnam’s central provinceof Ha Tinh, is expected to be completed in 2.5 years.
The project will also support Indonesia’s coal exports toLaos as well as Laos’ potassium exports to Indonesia.
Another company from Indonesia, the State-owned train manufacturerINKA, has invested 9 trillion Rp in the project./.
VNA