Summary：JAKARTA, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia was expected to save up to 100 trillion rupiahs (some 6.7 billion U.S. d...

JAKARTA, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia was expected to save up to 100 trillion rupiahs (some 6.7 billion U.S. dollars) from development of mass railway transportation, a senior minister said on Wednesday.

The figure would consist of 40 trillion rupiahs (2.7 billion U.S. dollars) saved from costs of road transportation and 60 trillion rupiahs (about 4 billion U.S. dollars) saved from shortened traveling time, Coordinating Minister for Maritime and Investment Affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan told an online seminar.

"The figure equals to 4 percent of the regional gross domestic product (GDP) of Indonesia's capital city of Jakarta and its surrounding areas of Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi," he noted.

The use of mass transportation would also reduce traffic jams significantly, the minister said, adding that data from PT KAI Commuterline Indonesia showed that the number of passengers from and to Jakarta reached 336 million people in 2019.

Pandjaitan pointed out that the land transportation played an important role in the contribution to the national economy, and the Indonesian government was strongly committed to developing land transportation infrastructures not only in Java but also across the country.

The government showed its commitment among others by constructing toll roads in the main islands of Sulawesi, Kalimantan, Sumatera and Bali in addition to development of railway networks in Kalimantan, Sulawesi and Bali, he added. Enditem