“Promoting sustainability is the key aspect of future infrastructure, the right infrastructure to maximize the benefits for the people. More roads, more cars, more congestion, and more pollution. We need more public transportation,” told the CEO William Sabandar while adding that the presence has contributed to 8 percent reduction of traffic congestion. Willy was invited as a keynote speaker at the Dinner Talk held by the Australian Embassy in partnership with SBM ITB (11/9/2019). This event was also attended by Chairman of School Advisory Council, Professor Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, Deputy Head of Mission, Allaster Cox and hundreds of participants from SBM ITB and Australian business networks.
Moreover, he continued to explicate the 5 main lessons from building the MRT Jakarta after waiting for decades. “First, our institutions are still weak when it comes to coordination across institutions. Second, the land acquisition although this is very important for any infrastructure project. Third, technology and capability. Fourth, the funding strategy and fifth is sustainability“ the former Chief of Nias Recovery stated, in charge of coordinating the post-tsunami and earthquake reconstruction that destroyed Nias Islands in 2004 and 2005.
The next session was a panel session presenting Yoga Adiwinarto of Trans Jakarta and Nick Moussios of McConnell Dowell. Yoga explained the difficulties of integrating all the bus operators in Jakarta. “After the integration problem is solved, Trans Jakarta is expected to carry more than 1 Million passengers a day this year,” he said. Meanwhile, Nick Moussios brought his experience in developing infrastructure in Australia, and what values he could introduce to Indonesia. “The challenge is different. In Australia, everything is certain. Here, we need to deal with uncertainty, “as he continued.
This workshop is the second joint workshop between SBM ITB and the Embassy of Australia in Jakarta. Last year, the first workshop successfully addressed issues in energy sector which were in the trend last year. The collaboration between SBM ITB and the Embassy of Australia in Jakarta is expected to continue, particularly in discussing most-debated topics in the coming years.
