Jakarta-Bandung high-speed rail

The $7.2 billion project, a key part of China's Belt and Road Initiative, will be officially opened on Indonesia's independence day.

An official told parliament this week that the project's final overrun was $1.2 billion, down from more than $2 billion previously predicted.

As China reopens its borders, it can finally resume normal exchanges with Southeast Asian countries. But there are several potential pitfalls to watch out for.

The project is part of a planned 750-kilometer line that would cut across four provinces on the main island of Java.

The Chinese-Indonesian consortium building the Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Rail line says that projected demand has fallen by nearly half.

Since its inception in 2015, the headline BRI project has seen repeated delays and inflated costs.

Indonesia's government should tread cautiously when green-lighting large-scale Chinese infrastructure projects.

The railway, China's landmark BRI project in Indonesia, has failed to account for its economic and social impacts.

The railway projects being built under the Belt and Road Initiative offer marginal economic benefits at exorbitant costs.

Indonesia can create a model for the infrastructure dilemma: how to utilize resources on offer while managing geopolitical risks.