Indonesia's first high-speed rail project, to be built by China, will break ground on Jan. 21 and the construction is expected to be completed in 2018, the BBC reports on Tuesday.

The 140-kilometer rail will link Indonesia's capital city of Jakarta and Bandung, the third largest city of the country. The high-speed railway has a designed speed of 250 km per hour and after put into operation it will shorten the travel time between the two cities to less than 35 minutes, with the one-way fare around 16 U.S. dollars.

The Jakarta-Bandung line is part of Indonesia's 750-km high-speed rail project that will connect Jakarta and the nation's second largest city of Surabaya in East Java.

Local government in Jakarta is completing the final license and related laws and regulations. After this, the project will start, according to Pramono Anung, Indonesian Cabinet Secretary-General.

China and Indonesia signed an agreement on Oct. 16, 2015, according to which China will build the high speed rail for Indonesia. This is also China’s first overseas high-speed rail project.

China and Japan had both been competing for the rights to build the 140-kilometer Jakarta-Bandung line.