TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Minister of Transportation Evert Erenst Mangindaan, promised that the Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) system will be implemented in Jakarta by the end of 2015. For the preliminary stage, the ERP will be implemented in Jakarta and Surabaya. "Within these past few months, we have conducted trials on over 50 vehicles," he said yesterday.

Evert explained that the trial has been conducted in a number of areas in Jakarta such as Sudirman, Thamrin and H.R Rasuna Said. In the future, the road pricing system will also be implemented in Medan, Bandung and Makasssar. "The regulations will come from the central government and will be implemented by the provincial government. Central [government] will provide assistance," he said.

Elly Sinaga, Chief of Research and Development Division for the Ministry of Transportation, said that the implementation of ERP will significantly decrease fuel consumption because vehicle users will revert to public transportation. However, she reminded that the implementation of ERP requires some sort of compensation, such as the improvement of public transportation services, which can be done by adding more Transjakarta buses to attract vehicle users to switch to using public transportation.

Head of Land Transport Organization Eka Sari Lorena, said that the implementation of ERP requires an in depth feasibility study to prevent it from becoming a blunder. She said that many countries have failed to implement the technology successfully. "Which is why the government needs to learn from the failed countries as well as the successful ones," she said.

SAID HELABY