Indonesia has received a 690,000 euro (US$1 million) grant from France for consulting services to design an integrated public transportation master plan to solve Bandung's worsening traffic problems.
On Wednesday, the Finance Ministry's director general of debt management, Rahmat Waluyanto, and French Ambassador to Indonesia Philippe Zeller signed the grant agreement at the ministry office.
"It's too late to design a master plan for Bandung, but we are trying to finish it by December, so we can follow up on it next year," said Elly Sinaga, director for urban transport system development at the Transportations Ministry.
"I was very surprised by the heavy traffic in Bandung," Ambassador Zeller said.
"It's much worse on weekends than weekdays, with many people coming in from Jakarta."
The West Java capital is one of the main destinations for Jakartans during weekends. The so-called Flower City is renowned as being a cozy place with bargain shops and good food.
Zeller pointed out the grant was specifically dedicated to designing the master plan using high-tech planning methods.
Asked whether France would be willing to lend money for transportation projects in Bandung, Zeller said his government would wait for the conclusion of the consulting services, to be carried out by French consultancy SNCF International in cooperation with the Regional Development Planning Agency (Bappeda), the Bandung administration and the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB).
"Among the conclusions, there'll be proposals to recover some transport systems," the ambassador said.
"We, the French, are ready to help again in financial means."
Elly said Bandung citizens had proposed developing a "skybus" that would create much-needed shortcuts across city's hilly terrain.
Zeller said France had already worked with the Surabaya administration two years ago to develop railways.
Besides the grant, the French government has this year also committed to providing $300 million in soft loans for climate change programs, and a $10 million grant for the electrification of the Padalarang-Cicalengka railway line, Rahmat said.
To date, the French government has provided soft loans of $1.3 million for technical assistance to air traffic control in Makassar, $200 million for climate change and 36.8 million euro for rehabilitation of the drainage system in Banda Aceh.
