Railway to connect Tanjung in S. Kalimantan and Pasir in E. Kalimantan
Wednesday, July 12 2000 - 04:00 AM WIB
The Tabalong administration in South Kalimantan will cooperate with the Pasir administration in East Kalimantan to build a railway link between the two areas to transport coal from Tanjung in Tabalong to Pasir.
The secretary of the Tabalong administration, Fitri Rifani, who just arrived from Tanah Grogot, Pasir, said that the planned construction of the railway link was to reduce traffics in the land road linking to the two areas.
In the first stage, a 150 kilometer long railway line would be built by a consortium of companies led by PT Senong Corporindo, with total investment of US$380 million.
The project would be completed with a port in Adang Bay or Atar Bay in Pasir. The port is expected to have a loading and unloading capacity of at least 20 million tons of coal per annum. The capacity could be enhanced to accommodate 50 million tons of coal per annum.
The consortium is expected to start the feasibility study in Tabalong in year 2001 to decide which areas that would be used as railway line.
In the long run, the railway would also be used to transport other products, especially farming and plantation products such as palm oil, wood products, rubber, rattan and even containers. If possible, the railway could be used to transport people. (*)