Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Indonesian government is making a strong push for the quicker adoption of electric vehicles in the country, director general of land transportation at the Ministry of Transportation, Budi Setiyadi, has said.

"What the government is currently pushing is public motorized vehicles and government vehicles. For public motorized vehicles, the government is targeting online transportation provider platforms such as Grab, Gojek, and Maxim," he informed at a virtual event on Thursday.

To expedite the adoption of electric vehicles, the government is not only conducting type testing, but also converting conventional motorcycles into electric motorcycles, he said.

Currently, Indonesia has four workshops in Jakarta and Surabaya that have received permission from the Ministry of Transportation to convert conventional motorcycles into electric motorcycles, he added.

"We hope that the acceleration of the use of electric vehicles becomes a necessity in order to help overcome the problem of air pollution and so on," Setiyadi said.

The government is also looking to turn several areas in Indonesia, both industrial and tourism areas, into green areas, he added.

"We have communicated with a number of governors, district heads, mayors, including the district head of Klungkung, which includes Nusa Penida Island, since the area will be a special area for electric motorcycles," he informed.

He further revealed that currently, in Asmat district, Papua, almost all motorcycles in use are electric. Therefore, he called for a workshop to be made available there.

The use of electric vehicles in the government environment is also one of the efforts to encourage the public also to use them, he said.

"The sooner the government uses electric vehicles, I think the faster people will use them," he remarked.
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Translator: Suci Nurhaliza, Raka Adji
Editor: Suharto
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