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tate-owned train operator PT Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI) inked a deal with the National Land Agency (BPN) to speed up the process of certifying land it owns, amid an ongoing legal battle in Medan, North Sumatra.

With the signing, KAI also hopes to avoid future land disputes with local residents and businesses.

According to KAI asset director Edi Sukmoro, the train operator has only certified 90 million square meters out of the 270 million square meters of land it claims to own, leaving it without solid proof of ownership and vulnerable to rival claims.

With the support of BPN, the railroad operator expects to get 30 million square meters of land certified every six years, meaning it can have all its claimed land secured within 24 years.

'Based on our experience last year, we were only able to certify 1.5 million square meters,' Edi said on Friday.

'We need help from BPN to accelerate the whole process otherwise it will take a hundred years to get our land certified.'

In its latest legal battle, KAI is striving to reclaim around 7.3 hectares (73,000 square meters) of land located in the vicinity of the Medan train station that has been developed into malls and apartments by a developer.

The development has hampered the operator's expansion plan to develop double tracks connecting Medan to Kuala Namu International Airport in Deli Serdang, North Sumatra.

'With this cooperation, we hope that BPN can help us speed up the certification process so we will have solid evidence when we want to reclaim our assets,' Edi said.

The company lost its civil case against the developer in Medan at the Medan District Court, the North Sumatra High Court and even in its appeal of cassation at the national Supreme Court.

It has now filed a case review request with the Supreme Court.

In the meantime, the Attorney General's Office named three suspects last week, including two former Medan mayors, for allegedly converting land rights from KAI to the Medan administration in 1982.

The land has been developed into a superblock called Medan Center Point.

'If our assets are claimed by citizens, we can still use a persuasive measure to reclaim them,' said Edi.

'But if we are dealing with businesspeople, we need to show them the land certificate to prove our ownership.'

Edi said the train operator was currently inventorying its land assets that had been acquired by other parties.

Separately, BPN head Hendarman Supandji said the joint cooperation with KAI, which also involves state-run forestry company PT Perhutani and state-owned residential developer Perum Perumnas, was aimed at helping the institutions carry out the land certification process, to give legal certainty over the land they owned and to provide advising on land rights.

The limited number of human resources available in the agency had hampered the speed of the land certification process, he said, saying BPN could only certify 2 million square meters of land every year.

'However, I hope that by the time the land is certified, these institutions will thoroughly protect it and not easily let the public claim the right of the asset and just later say BPN had failed to provide legal certainty for their assets,' Hendarman said.