The Ministry Of Transportation Anticipates Corona Cases Spike During Christmas And New Year 2021 Holidays

Minister of Transportation Budi Karya during a working meeting with Commission V DPR (doc. Public Relations of the Ministry of Transportation)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Transportation has made various anticipatory efforts to deal with a surge in passengers and vehicles during the Christmas 2020 and New Year 2021 (Nataru) holidays. Given the corona pandemic situation and the spike in new daily positive cases.

The peak flow of passengers and vehicles is predicted to occur on 23 and 24 December 2020. Meanwhile, the peak of the return flow is predicted to occur on 2 to 4 January 2021.

"We instruct all operators to continue to enforce strict health protocols to prevent transmission and an increase in Covid-19 cases after the Nataru holiday," said Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi during a Working Meeting with Commission V of the DPR, Wednesday, November 25.

The Ministry of Transportation itself has prepared steps to prepare for the 2020/2021 Christmas and New Year Transportation. Including the Ministry of Transportation also intensively carries out ramp checks in all modes of transportation.

In providing Nataru 2020 transportation services, it has prepared transportation infrastructure and facilities throughout Indonesia with a concentration of services at 105 terminals, 58 ferry docks, 51 seaports, 50 airports, and 9 Operational Areas (Daops) and 4 Regional Divisions (Divre) .

The number of passengers for Nataru transportation this year is predicted to reach 8.97 million people. This number has decreased to 52 percent compared to 2019. Even so, bus transportation is predicted to decline by 83.6 percent.

"Meanwhile, ferry transportation increased by 6 percent, railway transportation decreased by 74.1 percent, sea transportation decreased by 45.6 percent and air transportation decreased by 53.7 percent," said the Minister of Transportation, Budi.

To meet the transportation needs of the Nataru holiday, the following transportation facilities have been prepared, namely: Road transportation modes prepared as many as 50,317 buses (AKAP, AKDP and Tourism) equal to the number of facilities in 2019. The crossing mode of transportation is prepared as many as 218 Ro-Ro ships ( decreased by 4.3 percent from 2019).

At the end of the meeting, the Chairman of Commission V DPR RI Lasarus asked the Ministry of Transportation and related agencies to carry out technical anticipation of problems that might occur in the homecoming and return flows during the Covid 19 pandemic.

Commission V of the Indonesian House of Representatives also asked the Ministry of Transportation and Korlantas Polri to not carry goods transporting goods other than logistics, food / beverage, medicine and fuel to operate during the Christmas 2020 and New Year 2021 holidays (23 December 2020 s / d January 3, 2021).