"The planning for train (procurement) needs must be more structured and systematic in the medium and long term," he noted in Jakarta, Saturday.
The minister then outlined three areas of focus to strike a balance between the public transportation needs and the domestic industry.
The three aspects are utilization of the domestic industry, more job opportunities if the government opts to add new features to the old system, and maintaining means of public transportation, he explained.
According to Kartasasmita, the government still considers the option to import trains as an addition to the existing means of public transportation, although it is not a priority.
"Import is still an option but not a priority, especially for used goods. Policies for public transport procurement can be in the form of retrofits or a combination of retrofits and imports," he remarked.
Retrofit is an approach to add more features or components to existing structures, in this case, to trains for public transport in Indonesia. This approach can prolong the trains' usage time, thereby annulling the need to import or buy new ones.
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Earlier, the Directorate General of Railways (DJKA) of the Ministry of Transportation had expressed support to the efforts to conduct rejuvenation of the electric train (KRL) being carried out by PT Kereta Commuter Indonesia (KCI), as the train will be retired.
This year, 10 KRL series for Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Tangerang, and Bekasi (Jabodetabek) areas will be retired.
This support was stated in the form of a technical recommendation letter issued by the Director General of Railways on December 19, 2022.
Apart from the age factor of the train, the Transportation Ministry also noted that the need for procurement aimed at accommodating more passengers.
To this end, the KCI has submitted an application letter to the Ministry of Trade since September 2022 for the import of used 28-year-old KRL from Japan.
However, Secretary General of the Industry Ministry Dody Widodo stated that Indonesia does not need to import KRL carriages, as the national rail industry is capable of meeting the domestic train needs.
Meanwhile, Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment, Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, immediately called on the Financial and Development Supervisory Agency (BPKP) to conduct an audit on the import of used KRL.
Pandjaitan is keen to ensure that the mistake of importing used goods in the past is not repeated henceforth. He also pressed for more detailed planning to avoid more imports in future.
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Translator: Sella Panduarsa G, Resinta S
Editor: Yuni Arisandy Sinaga
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