"We are starting this year, and Surabayas Mayor Risma is committed to it. We want it to be finished as soon as possible and next year. We will boost the construction progress, and it would be even better if we can complete it by 2019," Director General of Railway from the Ministry of Transportation, Prasetyo Boeditjahjono, said after meeting Surabayas Mayor Tri Rismaharini, popularly known as Risma, in the Surbaya City Hall on Friday.
He further stated that the tram project will be constructed by the central government, while the Indonesian Railway Company (PT KAI) will act as the operator of the tram.
"This is more of a reactivation, as there used to be a tram system in this city. When it comes to the reactivation, the infrastructure belongs to the country, so it will be rebuilt by the central government, whilst PT KAI will be responsible for its operations," he explained.
In terms of the funding, Prasetyo stated that the budget plans have been prepared and it will be taken out of the state budget (APBN). For the year 2017, 100 billion rupiah have been set aside for the project.
"For the funding in 2017, this is what we are working for. But we can come up with other measures as we go on with the construction, and there are many funding schemes that we can apply. Mayor Risma had come down to Jakarta a number of times and had meetings with us from the Ministry of Transportation as well as the Ministry of Finance," he elaborated.
Meanwhile, Surabaya Mayor Tri Rismaharini addressed a number of preparatory measures that had been done by the provincial government, including the marking around the Tunjungan Street as the initial location for the tram constructions, as well as preparing the area around the Dukuh intersections for traffic diversion.
"We have made the preparations. We have taken measurements as well, including for traffic diversion. I have led the processes myself," she added.
She also stated that the future price of the tram system, once it is operated, will be under Rp10 thousand. (*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2017
