"I and friends are conducting an observation tour of the railways from Pemanggilan Railway Station in Central Lampung to Sulusuban Station to check the railway tracks," Head of KAI for Tanjung Karang Division, Suryawan Putra Hia, here on Monday.
He said that the field checks were carried out to monitor the conditions of the railway tracks and ensure that there was no damage in the railway track components.
The checks on railway track is conducted at least once a week with a stretch being examined of about seven kilometers, he explained.
The KAI chief for Lampung division said that the examinations were also intended to see and guarantee that there was no broken rail, cracked railway sleepers and missing pandrols. Any damage or missing components found could be repaired and replaced immediately, he said.
Minister of Transportation Budi Karya Sumadi has earlier said that the Indonesian government encourages the use of 50 percent of local components for railway development.
"We will intensify our train manufacturing industry, so that `local content` would increase. When we built the first `local content,` it was 30 percent; now it is 40 percent; and in the near future, with our State-Owned Enterprises Minister, we will increase it to above 50 percent," Sumadi stated.
He noted that according to President Joko Widodo`s mandate, domestic projects must use more local components.
By using more local components, many positive impacts would be obtained, including saving a lot of foreign exchange, absorbing many local personnel, and allowing export, he further stressed.
Reporting by T.Subagyo dan Emir FS
Editing by Fardah
Reporter: Antara
Editor: Andi Abdussalam
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