Pustral UGM

Ten state companies signed cooperation agreements with Indonesia’s only port operator PT Pelabuhan Indonesia on Friday for better shipping, loading, and distribution services at ports and on land transport system.

The ten state companies are railway operator PT Kereta Api, construction firms PT Pembangunan Perumahan, PT Jakarta Propertindo, oll road operator PT Jasa Marga, shipping company PT Djakarta Lloyd, postal service PT Pos Indonesia, logistics and warehouse service PT Bhanda Graha Reksa, electricity facility builder PT LEN Industri, shipping industry classification service PT Biro Klasifikasi Indonesia, and the State Logistics Agency (Perum Bulog).

The agreements cover facility and operational service improvements at port, port area utilization, railway service utilization, and toll road service improvements, which expected would “speed-up product distribution”, Director of the Perum Pelabuhan Indonesia II R.J. Lino.

Pelindo is divided into four companies Pelindo I, Pelindo II, Pelindo III, Pelindo IV, which responsible for port operations in different regions.

Source: Tempo interactive

Foreign airlines will not be allowed to serve domestic routes under the flight liberalization ASEAN Open Sky Policy in 2015. They are only allowed to serve international routes.

“This is a way to protect national airlines,” said the Director General of Air Transportation Herry Bakti S. Gumay in Jakarta, last Friday. Herry said that foreign airlines could only fly from abroad to five airports open for liberalization, including countries besides the country of origin of the airline.

However this also depends on flying slots at national airports. The government, he said, could refuse the entrance of foreign airlines if the slots were already filled. The government also helps national airlines to obtain regional route flying permits.

“If foreign airlines want to fly here, we also want national airlines to have a slot there,” he said. He said that the government has pushed Japan to provide a slot for Garuda Indonesia, which wishes to open a Jakarta-Tokyo direct route. A meeting with the Japanese authorities will be carried out this month. He is optimistic that Japan will fulfill Garuda Indonesia’s wishes.

“It appears that they want to give in, because we keep on pushing,” he said. Sriwijaya Air has also proposed a flying permit for the Palembang-Kuala Lumpur route. He said he considered that national airlines, such as Garuda Indonesia, Sriwijaya, Lion, Batavia and Mandala were capable of competing with foreign airlines. The transportation ministry plans to open five out of 26 international airports to be included in the flight liberalization. The five airports are Soekarno-Hatta, Polonia, Ngurah Rai, Juanda Surabaya, and Hasanuddin Makassar. The limitation is being carried out to protect national airlines.

Moreover there are ASEAN countries, like Singapore, that only have one international airport.

Source: Tempo interactive

DENPASAR: Denpasar Transportation Agency said it plans to expand areas hosting car-free days to a number of places, including former Badung office complex in Lumintang. Since August 2009, Denpasar municipality has enforced a car-free day every Sunday in Renon in downtown Denpasar. The city administration also developed special bicycle lanes along major streets on Jl. Jenderal Sudirman and Jl. Hang Tuah near the Sanur resort area.

The car-free day policy was implemented to reduce air and noise pollution in Denpasar, key issues that the city is struggling with.

Source

The second largest city in Sweden, Gothenburg, plans to introduce a road user charge in 2013 similar to the one adopted in Stockholm, it has been announced following a vote by the city council last week. The scheme – which will include some 40 toll stations around the city – is aimed at financing infrastructure investments, reducing greenhouse gases and cutting traffic in the city center by around 15%.

Located on Sweden’s west coast, Gothenburg, has some 506,000 inhabitants and has been evaluating the feasibility of advanced urban road pricing through a field trial as part of the EU’s PRoGR€SS project. “The issue will now be put to the government,” a statement from the city council reads. “A decision about a congestion charge will be taken by parliament this spring and the plan is for the congestion charge to be introduced in 2013.”

The charge would be similar to the one levied in Stockholm in 2007, whereby motorists entering and leaving the city between Monday and Friday pay between SKr10 and SKr20 (US$1.40 and US$2.80), depending on the time of day, with an upper limit of SKr60 (US$8.40) a day. A number of other cities have introduced similar toll schemes including London, Rome and Singapore.