Jokowi Claims The Cost Of Building A Fast Train Is Cheaper Than MRT

President Joko Widodo at the inauguration of the Jakarta Bandung High Speed Train. (Photo: Doc. ANTARA)

JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) claims that the cost of building a faster train is cheaper than the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT).

Jokowi revealed that the construction of underground MRT was the first time in Jakarta to spend a budget of up to IDR 1.1 trillion per kilometer (km).

Meanwhile, now the costs are up, the MRT development is considered to cost IDR 2.3 trillion per km.

"The fast train is also cheaper than the subway. The high-speed train is IDR 780 billion per kilometer," Jokowi said in the agenda of opening the National Working Meeting of the Association of Indonesian City Governments (Apeksi) 2024 which was monitored via the Presidential Secretariat's YouTube, Tuesday, June 4.

As for the construction of Light Rail Transit (LRT) with carriages made by PT INKA, said Jokowi, the manufacture spent a budget of Rp600 billion per km.

Jokowi also mentioned that the autonomous mode of rapid transit (ART), looks like a train but does not use rail.

He said, if the local government is interested in building this train without rails, the financing scheme could be 50 percent using the APBD and 50 percent supported by the APBN.

"Later, if there are APBDs that have the ability, please connect with the Minister of Transportation (Budi Karya Sumadi). It can be distributed, the fifty-fifty can, the APBD 50 percent, the State Budget 50 percent, for example," he said.

According to Jokowi, the construction of mass transportation needs special attention from all local governments.

This is because the phenomenon of congestion continues to increase in every district/city.

Jokowi reminded that in 2045, as many as 70 percent of Indonesia's population will be in urban areas.

While globally, 80 percent of the world's population will live in urban areas by 2058.

"What will happen? The city's burden will be very heavy. Therefore, I have often conveyed the city's detailed plans in detail, which must be owned by every city in Indonesia," he said.