Wacana Tarif KRL Si Kaya Dan Kaya, Anggaran Subsidi Tahun Ini Ternyata Dipas Rp200 Miliar?

Illustration (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Transportation expert from Unika Soegijapranata Djoko Setijowarno, revealed that the government has allocated a subsidy of IDR 1.6 trillion for electric rail services (KRL) in the Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi (Jabodetabek) areas in the 2023 period.

According to him, the budget is part of the Public Service Obligation (PSO) subsidy contract which is the government's commitment to providing public transportation to the public.

"For the Jabodetabek KRL subsidy, it gets the largest portion of around 64 percent of the total PSO 2023 contract, which amounts to Rp. 2.6 trillion," he said in a written statement on Sunday, January 8.

Djoko explained that this year's PSO value was smaller than last year which reached IDR 2.8 trillion.

He detailed that the contract value of PSO 2023 apart from the Jabodetabek KRL was distributed to various other sectors, such as short-distance trains of IDR 466 billion (18.2 percent), medium distance trains of IDR 216 billion (8.5 percent), KRD IDR 152 billion (5.9 percent).

"Then also intended for the Jogja-Solo KRL Rp53 billion (2.1 percent), long-distance trains Rp12 billion (0.49 percent), and the Lebaran train Rp 9.4 billion (0.37 percent)," he added.

Apart from PSO, continued Djoko, the railway sector also received other subsidies, especially for improving service quality in various regions in Indonesia.

"Not only PSO, the government also provides subsidies for pioneer trains of IDR 175 billion," he said.

For information, at the end of last year the Minister of Transportation (Menhub) Budi Karya Sumadi had stated that people with an economic level could afford to be subject to KRL service rates without subsidies. Even so, the Minister of Transportation ensured that the discourse was not carried out in 2023.

"God willing, until 2023 it will not increase. But, later use a card (specifically), so those who have a proposal (considered economically capable) must pay otherwise (no subsidies)," said Minister of Transportation Budi Karya in a press conference at the Ministry of Transportation's End of Year, Tuesday, December 27, 2022.