REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, PALANGKA RAYA -- A Russian company will soon build railway tracks connecting the provinces of East Kalimantan and Central Kalimantan, Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi said.

The Transportation Ministry is waiting for a confirmation from the Russian embassy in Jakarta on whether the project could be realized, he said after a meeting with Central Kalimantan Governor Sugianto Sabran at Tjilik Riwut Airport on Sunday. "The railway tracks will be used to transport coal. It is too expensive to operate passenger trains on the railway tracks. But once the railway tracks are completed we can use the railway tracks to transport people," he said. 

Asked to comment on the planned construction of railway tracks linking Puruk Cahu to Batanjung via Bangkuang in Central Kalimantan, he said the realization of the project ran very slowly. The minister said he had not met China Railway Group Limited which will build the railway tracks. "I will not cancel the planned construction of the railway tracks the China Railway Group Limited will build," he said.

He denied that he put the planned construction of the 425-kilometer railway track on hold, saying the project had been incorporated to the country's strategic plan. It is the China Railway Group Limited that is not serious about expediting the project, he said.

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