The Ministry Of Transportation Wants Indonesia To Be Free Of ODOL Vehicles By 2023

Ruk ODOL. (Photo: Ministry of Transportation)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Transportation (Kemenhub) through the Directorate General of Land Transportation (Ditjen Hubdat) will carry out a number of traffic flow engineering and security during the 2020/2021 Christmas and New Year (Nataru) holidays. One of them is reducing the number of Over Dimension and Over Loading (ODOL) vehicles on the road.

"The government focuses on several things, namely increasing the operational supervision of illicit travel, securing roads and rest areas, to ensuring the readiness of road infrastructure both toll roads and non-toll roads, including anticipating disasters in vulnerable locations," said Director General of Land Transportation, Budi Setiyadi in a statement. the press, Saturday, December 5.

On the same occasion, Director of Road Transportation Infrastructure Risal Wasal also stated that the proliferation of ODOL vehicles could affect the competitiveness of the national logistics industry. For this reason, the Ministry of Transportation plans to implement the Zero ODOL program in 2023.

This is because ODOL trucks cannot enter the Asean Free Trade Area (AFTA) because they cannot cross national border posts (PLBN). Moreover, the high number of cargo violations and traffic accidents caused by ODOL vehicles also further strengthens the reasons for taking immediate action against ODOL violations.

"From the discussions that were held with goods transportation entrepreneurs yesterday, there were indeed some who refused and asked to be postponed until 2025, but most of them still hoped that Indonesia would be free from ODOL as of January 1, 2023," said Risal.

Risal understands that his party has seen the movement of ODOL trucks on the road in recent times. Given that the Covid-19 pandemic directly forced businessmen and truck owners to reduce operating costs.

Pandemic conditions of course also occur in a number of neighboring countries. However, Risal said, logistics vehicles abroad still prioritize safety by not allowing ODOL trucks.

"During the Covid-19 pandemic, other ASEAN countries have complied with transport capacity standards, not ODOL and they will enter our country, while our trucks cannot enter their country. This is also a consideration. Therefore we ask to intensify it. socialization to the public to no longer use ODOL trucks, "concluded Risal.