T

he government is going to further develop integrated intermodal passenger transport systems in several large cities in Indonesia to create the efficient movement of people that will help boost the economy.

Deputy Transportation Minister Bambang Susantono said the government had picked the cities of Palembang in South Sumatra, Pekanbaru in Riau province and Denpasar in Bali for the initial integration plans.

“As an archipelagic country, intermodal connectivity is very important in order to more effectively transport both people and goods. Connections for various transportation modes, from railways to bus rapid transit systems, are clearly needed to create efficiency and boost regional economies,” Bambang told The Jakarta Post last week on the sidelines of a technical meeting with Japan’s Deputy Transporation, Tourism and International Affairs Minister Takashi Kitamura in Yogyakarta.

He said the government, together with the private sector, was set to start working next year on the mega Trans-Sumatra Railway project, a 2,168-kilometer railway connecting Banda Aceh with Lampung.

Studies in several parts of the island including South Sumatra, which has Palembang and Pekanbaru within its borders, are currently being carried out and are expected to be completed by the end of this year.

“We will connect the railway with the BRT [bus rapid transit] in both cities and the Musi River bus in Palembang to help develop the transportation sector,” he said.

Currently, both Pekanbaru and Palembang have BRT systems, namely the Trans Metro Pekanbaru and Transmusi, respectively.

The bus systems also connect with the airports to the center of cities.

In Bali, he said the government was currently promoting the Trans Sarbagita railroad to link Denpasar with Badung, Gianyar and Tabanan.

The railway would be added into the integration plan after the state-owned airport operator, Angkasa Pura I, finished the expansion of Ngurah Rai International Airport next year, he said.

Over the next five years, the government plans to create an integrated intermodal system between the new airport in Karawang with the Jababeka industrial area and Cilamaya Port.

Yogyakarta and Surakarta in Central Java remain the country’s best models of cities that have integrated their transportation sectors.

Based on observations by The Jakarta Post during a technical visit, airline passengers arriving at Adisucipto International Airport in Yogyakarta have three different public transportation options to reach the city’s downtown area or nearby tourist sites, such as Klaten, Kutoarjo and the city of Surakarta.

They can hop on a Trans Jogja or state-run Damri bus to head to the city center or catch a train from Maguwo station to go to Surakarta.

Kitamura said he had seen improvements in Indonesia’s transportation sector and Japan was committed toward collaborating with Indonesia to improve this sector.

“The [global] economy has now shifted from the West to the East and from the North to the South. I want Japan and Indonesia to continue their collaboration in the future,” he said during his visit.

According to Bambang, relations between Indonesia and Japan have grown stronger with Japan helping Indonesia in conducting feasibility studies, drawing up master plans and raising financing for transportation projects during the past few years.

One of the projects is the mass rapid transit (MRT) from Lebak Bulus in South Jakarta to the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle, which is estimated will cost a total of Rp 15.5 trillion (US$1.64 billion), most of which will be covered by a ¥120 billion ($1.53 billion) soft loan from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

Both governments have conducted annual vice-ministerial meetings since 2010 to seek collaborations and share knowledge on transportation and infrastructure.

The first meeting between the two countries was held in 2010 in Denpasar and the second one, last year, was in Tokyo.