"Let us use the big theme of Indonesia's Independence Day anniversary this year with optimism to synergize and collaborate in efforts to accelerate the recovery in the transportation sector and rise stronger for the progress of Indonesia," he said.
In the 77th year of Indonesia's independence, there are several challenges that the country must face, including the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine that have triggered food, energy, and economic crises globally, Sumadi noted.
"We should be grateful that Indonesia is a country that can face these global crises," he said while leading the ceremony for Indonesia's 77th Independence Day anniversary commemoration at the Transportation Ministry Office here on Wednesday.
Furthermore, the minister said, building transportation infrastructure and services is not an easy job, especially because Indonesia is an archipelagic country and given the current unfavorable global economic conditions.
Taking note of the limited budget, he invited all stakeholders in the transportation sector, including state-owned enterprises (SOEs), the private sector, associations, academics, and other relevant parties, to collaborate in developing connectivity up to remote areas.
In order to recover faster, innovation, creativity, and improvement in the quality of human resources to make them reliable, tough, and service-oriented are needed, he pointed out.
He also addressed the need to seek new funding sources given the limited budget through creative financing with the help of Government and Business Entity Cooperation (KPBU) schemes, including strengthening the role of SOEs, public service agencies, investment management institutions, and special mission vehicles (SMV), as well as possible foreign funding sources.
Amid the challenging situation, the transportation sector has shown recovery and revival.
According to Statistics Indonesia (BPS) data, the transportation sector managed to grow 21.27 percent in the second quarter of 2022 compared to the year-ago period.
"However, we still have to anticipate the contribution of the transportation sector to the national inflation rate, which is quite high compared to other sectors," Minister Sumadi remarked.
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Translator: Adimas Raditya, Raka Adji
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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