MTI urges people-centered transportation development

The Jakarta Post Jakarta

The Indonesian Transportation Society (MTI) has called on the government to involve the public in decisions involving the development of transportation facilities.

"The government must involve communities in all stages of transportation projects," MTI chairman Bambang Susantono said on Monday. "That means from the planning stage to the monitoring and maintenance of those projects."

He said that consulting the public about transportation was currently a mere formality.

In his presentation at a national transportation workshop, Bambang revealed that Indonesian road users spent Rp 1.55 trillion (US$167.26 million) per day on both road maintenance and travel costs.

That amount, he said, showed that road users were the primary stake holders of transportation development.

Road vehicles are the most common form of transportation, dominating passenger services by 84.13 percent (compared to the railway's 7.32 percent) and the transportation of goods by 90.34 percent (0.62 percent by railway).

"In urban areas, for instance, administrations should prepare a bottom-up plan involving the grass roots and then translate that plan into an integrated transportation system," Bambang said.

Road construction, he said, caused heavy traffic congestion that in Jakarta alone caused Rp 41.05 billion in losses per day.

"It is better for the government to develop a mass rapid transit system like commuter trains rather than build more roads," said Bambang.

Building more roads and not other transportation facilities, he said, led to the inefficient use of land, while a mass transportation system could convey more people simultaneously.

The development of a mass rapid transit system may not seem to have financial benefits, but would have other benefits, such as increasing productivity due to less stress caused by traffic jams.

Bambang said the government's plan to build 1,500 kilometers of roads connecting Java and Bali should have included other forms of transportation such as trains for higher efficiency.

On a national scale, Indonesia needs an umbrella policy derived from its national financial system, he said.

At the same event, Minister of Transportation Hatta Radjasa said the government planned to issue a presidential decree on a transportation system that would serve as a reference for the overall development of Indonesia's modes of transportation. (003)