President Joko Widodo Wants Better Public Transportation
President Joko Widodo when signing the inscription of Jakarta-Bandung high-speed rail lines groundbreaking (21/1)
On Thursday (21/1) afternoon, President Joko Widodo presided over the groundbreaking ceremony of Jakarta-Bandung high-speed rail line in Maswati Plantation, Cikalong Wetan Subdistrict, West Bandung Regency, West Java.
In his remarks, the President stated that this era is a competitiveness era. He mentioned that it is a country with high competitiveness that will win the competition.
An efficient country is a country that can make a decision rapidly and can rapidly develop as well. This country will be the winner of competition between countries, the President said while mentioning that this high-speed rail line is one of the manifestation of the rapid development.According to the President, the speed of goods and people mobility will support us to win the competition.
He also mentioned mass transportation issue. For decades, we rely on private transport and do not pay enough attention to public transport. Nevertheless, there are a lot of cities, beside Jakarta and Bandung, that must face congestion problems. Therefore, the solution is mass transportation.
Thats why, two years ago, the construction of Jakarta MRT was started because I want better public transportation, the President said.
The President explained that the construction of Light Rail Transit (LRT) for Greater Jakarta (Jakarta, Bogor, Tangerang, Bekasi), that has been planned for a long time, was started last year because the Government wants a good mass transportation that links Jakarta and its surrounding cities.
The MRT, LRT, train, fast train, and bus are mass transportations that we must prioritize, the President said.
The President also explained that last week, Governor of West Java said and asked after the high-speed rail line completed, the LRT in Bandung must be completed as well. It is not only for Bandung, but also for Greater Bandung.
I have answered and immediately decided to manifest the intentions of the Governor, the President affirmed and he received applause from the guests of the groundbreaking.
Later, the President added, the LRT of Bandung Raya, LRT of Greater Jakarta, and LRT in DKI Jakarta will be integrated. It has been planned but has not been decided yet, the President said while reminding that Jakarta MRT has been planned since 26 years ago.
The President also asserted that the construction of the facilities of Jakarta-Bandung high-speed rail line does not use the State Budget and without the Governments guarantee.
The State Budget will be used mainly for infrastructure development outside Java, for example for highway construction in Sumatera and railway construction from Makassar to Manado that have been started last year. The development in Papua will also be pushed and the State Budget will also be used for this project.
It should be Indonesia centrists, instead of Java centrists. Its our intention, the President said.
Therefore, according to the President, this high-speed rail line will use investment fund, not the State Budgets fund because if we use it, the people outside Java will ask: Pak, why does the budget spend mainly for Java? What about other regions? Papua, Sulawesi, Kalimantan? It is their question, the President said.
With this kind of financing scheme, cooperation between Chinas and Indonesias State-Owned Enterprises, in infrastrucure development acceleration, the Government can concentrate to use the State Budgets fund to develop infrastructure in Sumatera, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and Papua. In the meantime, the development in more developing regions will be used the scheme of State-Owned Enterprises investment.
On that occasion, the President also saw the scale model of the high-speed rail line construction and listened to the explanation of the Managing Director of PT Kereta Api Cepat Indonesia-China Hanggoro Budi Wiryawan.
The groundbreaking was also attended by Coordinating Minister for the Economy Darmin Nasution, Minister of State-Owned Enterprises Rini Soemarno, Minister of Environment and Forestry Siti Nurbaya, Governor of West Java Ahmad Heryawan, and Governor of DKI Jakarta Basuki Tjahaja Purnama. (SM/ES)(MMB/YM/Naster)
