Eri Cahyadi: ART Development In Surabaya Is More Rational Than MRT

Surabaya Mayor Eri Cahyadi when met at the local city hall area, Friday (7/6/2014). ANTARA/HO-Diskominfo Surabaya

Surabaya Mayor Eri Cahyadi stated that the construction of the Autonomous Rapid Transit (ART) is more rational to build in the area than theass Rapid Transit (MRT) or the Light Rail Transit (LRT), because it is in accordance with the availability of the regional budget (APBD).

"KalauART itu pakai magnet, ternyata itu harganya Rp500-600 miliar per 7 kilometer, kami (pemerintah kota) langsung mengacungkan tangan saat acara APEKSI," kata Eridilan ANTARA, Jumat, 7 Juni.

Eri stated that if you have to build MRT or LRT, the Surabaya City Budget will not be sufficient, because the MRT development requires a budget of around Rp. 2.3 trillion per 1 kilometer.

If the budget is calculated using the Surabaya City APBD, then the construction of the transportation route can only be completed 5 kilometers.

"After the budget, how about poverty alleviation? Many people ask why it's not constructive, because it's impossible," he said.

For LRT, after the calculation of development requires a budget of around Rp. 800 billion per kilometer. This figure is also still a burden on the Surabaya City Budget.

If it has to be compared to Jakarta, said Eri, it is irrelevant, because even though Surabaya is a metropolitan city, the amount of the existing budget is different.

"Jakarta has a large APBD, the Surabaya APBD is only Rp. 10.9 trillion," he said.

Because the development budget allocation is more relevant, the Surabaya City Government is trying to realize the construction of the magnetically moving ART.

"No one has yet, this is implemented in IKN, God willing, second Surabaya," he said.

Eri also stated that he had coordinated with the Ministry of Transportation to discuss the process of drafting the ART concept.

"We are doing a FS (feasibility study) in Surabaya, hopefully in 2025 or 2026 it will be running," said Eri.

The feasibility study also calculates the need for connectivity between ART and other transportation, such as "Suroboyo Bus", TransSemanggi, and feeder.

"We see where the bus is, where the ART position is, for example, in one location it cannot be passed by the bus, so just ART," he said.

Previously, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) offered ART urban transportation as the latest alternative to providing mass transportation services to unravel urban traffic congestion in Indonesia.

The offer was conveyed by President Jokowi in front of mayors throughout Indonesia who were present at the XVII National Working Meeting (Rakernas) of the All-Indonesian City Government Association (Apeksi) 2024 in Balikpapan City, East Kalimantan (4/6).