Central Kalimantan Governor Agustin Teras Narang has rejected a central government plan to construct 135-kilometer-long railway line connecting Central and East Kalimantan.
Terang said the project, which Russia had agreed to invest US$2.5 billion into, could damage protected forest areas the railway would pass through.
The governor added that Central Kalimantan was currently still focusing on the construction of railway lines connecting different areas in the province.
“I and the Central Kalimantan deputy governor wouldn’t want and don’t agree with [the Russian plan]. Four governors in Kalimantan have agreed to first build railways in each of our own regions,” Teras said Thursday as quoted by tribunnews.com.
Central Kalimantan is also planning to build a 185-kilometer-long railway line from Purukcahu in Murungraya regency to Bangkuang in South Barito regency, both areas within the province.
The proposed 135-kilometer line to be built with Russian funding, meanwhile, would connect Central Kalimantan and the neighboring province of East Kalimantan, for coal transportation purposes.
