China Premier Li Qiang completes trial run of Indonesia's first high-speed rail

CHINA’S Premier Li Qiang travelled aboard a bullet train in a trial run of a Beijing-funded US$7.3 billion railway project in Indonesia on Wednesday (Sep 6), a spokesperson for the company behind the project told Reuters.

Li, accompanied by senior Indonesian minister Luhut Pandjaitan, tested the train across a 41-kilometre (25.5 miles) section of the track from Jakarta to Karawang on its outskirts, according to Emir Monti, spokesperson for KCIC, the consortium building the project.

The flagship project of Indonesian President Joko Widodo, which is part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, has faced a range of delays from land procurement issues, the Covid-19 pandemic to ballooning costs.

The 142-kilometre railway connecting the capital Jakarta to the city of Bandung was originally supposed to be ready in 2019 but is now to be commercially launched on Oct 1.

Li is in Jakarta to attend high-level meetings with leaders of countries in South-east Asia and beyond. REUTERS