TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - State owned railway company PT Kereta Api Indonesia or PT KAI set this year's revenue target at Rp9.7 billion, 20 percent higher than 2013's realization. Company spokesman Sugeng Priyono said the increase is expected to come from the double-track lines from Jakarta to Surabaya, which will begin operating later this month.

"This year our income is mostly contributed by passengers in Java," he said yesterday.

According to Sugeng, KAI's major revenue contributor last year was passenger transportation, which accounted for 52 percent of the total revenues. The remainder came from the transportation of goods. This year, Sugeng is optimistic that revenues from the freight transport sector will rise along with the increased number of users in the northern double-track lines.

This year's number of passengers is also targeted to increase by 10 percent compared to 2013's 240 million people. Last year, PT KAI managed to book Rp560 billion in profits, a 32-percent increase from 2012's Rp425 billion.

KAI's president director Ignasius Jonan said the company requires huge funds to take back its land assets. KAI targets to restore about as 1.5 million to two million square meters of its land asset per year.

Jonan said that KAI has 270 million square meters of uncertified land that is controlled by other parties. To date, only about 90 million square meters of land have been certified by the state.

"We are working with the National Land Agency to certify a minimum of 50 million square meters of land," said Jonan.

NURUL MAHMUDAH | ABDUL MALIK