This month, the governments of the United Kingdom and Indonesia launched a flagship bilateral transport partnership, with Minister Budi Karya Sumadi of Indonesia’s Ministry of Transportation, and Minister Wendy Morton MP of the UK’s Department for Transport, signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
This builds on a precedent of UK-Indonesia collaboration on transport, most recently exemplified by the UK Department for Transport’s support for Indonesia’s Jabodebek Light Rail project, delivered through Crossrail International, a project that brings UK expertise and experience to global transport projects.Today, under the MoU, the British Embassy Jakarta and the Ministry of Transportation, Republic of Indonesia, are delighted to launch the Future Cities: A UK-Indonesia Low Carbon Partnership Programme that aims to support Indonesia’s transition to a greener and more resilient future.
Through UK Partnering for Accelerated Climate Transitions (UK PACT) funding, the UK government has committed £9 million across three years to finance this portfolio of five low-carbon transport projects. These projects will support Indonesia’s transition towards inclusive, low-carbon urban mobility, whilst also promoting economic growth.
Working closely with the Ministry of Transportation, the UK PACT Future Cities programme identified two key needs for enhancing the sustainability of transport in Indonesian cities: first, improving coordination between the national and sub-national governments on transport planning; and second, integrating ways to tackle climate change into planning, whilst also demonstrating the benefits of sustainable mobility. Projects targeting these areas will ultimately aim to increase the ambition in the sector.
The five projects will help develop a national low-carbon transport roadmap; integrate climate solutions into national and local government planning; increase ambition on decarbonising transport; and make low-carbon transport projects more attractive to investors.
Moreover, these projects will not only aim to improve the sustainability of urban transport in a low-carbon sense; they will also do so in a social sense. All projects include interventions to tackle issues around gender, equality, and social inclusion (GESI) and access to transport, including one project focused exclusively on this.
What are the five projects?
- Unlocking opportunities for light rail, transit-oriented development, and capturing increased land value in Indonesia’s second-tier cities – Greater Semarang: Led by Buro Happold, this project will work with the Ministry of Transportation’s Directorate General of Railways, PT Kereta Api Indonesia, and the Metropolitan Semarang authorities to tackle financing and delivery barriers blocking the development of light rail transport systems. It will also generate practical learnings through pilot projects which can be scaled nationally to maximise impact. An integrated approach to network planning will increase efficiency in urban mobility, promoting a shift from private vehicles to mass transport and carbon emissions reductions.
- Developing the shift to low-carbon transport through safety improvements for vulnerable groups: Led by Arup, this project will will work with Indonesia’s Ministry of Transportation, urban authorities and community groups to raise the profile of public transport as a safe, daily transport choice. It will engage with multiple stakeholders and run assessments to gather insights into the needs of women and marginalised groups regarding public and active transport. Lessons learned from this programme will inform national policy-making in the Directorate General of Land Transportation, in the Ministry of Transportation.
- Enhancing sustainable urban mobility of coastal metropolitan cities: Led by World Resources Institute (WRI) Indonesia, this project will help improve and implement low-carbon, inclusive, resilient, and safe urban mobility strategies in coastal metropolitan Makassar and Surabaya, which are vulnerable to sea-level rise and flooding.
- Inclusive transport decarbonisation in Indonesia: Led by the Stockholm Environment Institute at the University of York, this project will contribute to the Ministry of Transportation’s plans to reduce urban transport carbon emissions, as well provide support to Greater Medan authorities to develop, finance, implement, and accelerate inclusive low-carbon transport projects.
- Clean mobility for metropolitan Jakarta: The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) will provide the Metropolitan Jakarta Transit Authority (BPTJ) and the Government of Jakarta with support to increase levels of low-carbon transport across the city, and explore how this approach can be scaled up at the national level.
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Welcoming the portfolio, British Ambassador to Indonesia and Timor Leste, Owen Jenkins CMG said: “Improving transport is like improving education – it can set off a chain reaction that brings more improvements than it is possible to count. Indonesia and the UK can learn from each other as we each work to develop our transport infrastructure and planning. I am proud to announce the launch of this Future Cities Programme, which means from today we have a portfolio of new projects to collaborate closely with Indonesia to improve urban transport, while tackling climate change. These projects will contribute to the acceleration of Indonesia’s journey to low-carbon transportation.” |
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Leading the programme portfolio coordination, Secretary General of the Ministry of Transportation, Novie Riyanto Rahardjo, said: “The Ministry of Transportation warmly welcomes UK bilateral support to accelerate our low-carbon transition. We agreed to sign the Implementation Arrangement because we see this as a great opportunity to support our efforts to solve Indonesia’s complex transport challenges. I encourage my colleagues and relevant provincial and cities government to own the programme, and champion its implementation so we can reap the benefit of this programme for Indonesia.” |
Read more about the portfolio of projects funded under Indonesia-UK PACT here.
Notes to editors
The lead organisations and partners responsible for implementing the Future Cities Low-Carbon Urban Transport projects are:
| Lead organisation | Consortia partners |
| University of York - Stockholm Environment Institute | UNEP, Clean Air Asia, Pustral UGM |
| PT Arup Indonesia | KOTA KITA |
| Buro Happold | Colliers, MMI, Auditama Consulting |
| WRI Indonesia | Arup, Vital Strategies |
| Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) | n/a |
