Gov't to Abolish Cash Payments on Toll Roads by October
Jakarta. The government will require all toll road users in the country to conduct electronic transactions beginning in October in an attempt to ease traffic flows on major thoroughfares.
Agus Martowardoyo, governor of Bank Indonesia, said concentrated efforts must be made to realize President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's plan to mitigate traffic jams at major tolls.
"To get there, standardization is needed and we want all banks to participate in issuing electronic cards to improve interconnection and interoperability," Agus said in a joint press conference on Wednesday (03/05), as quoted by state-run media outlet Antaranews.com.
Toll road payments across the archipelago have increased up to Rp 12 trillion ($901 billion) per year, according to data from the Public Works and Housing Ministry.
However, only 23 percent of those transactions are submitted electronically.
Currently, only a few drivers use on-board payment systems, which allow drivers to pay toll fees without stopping at transaction points on the road.
"However, when drivers pay their tolls electronically, road operators only receive those fees 180 days later, which of course is not so preferable," Public Works and Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljono said.
He added that the ministry has been in talks with the central bank to come up with a plan to settle transactions between banks – which issue electronic cards used for toll payments – and road operators on the same day transactions are submitted.
"We think all toll roads in Indonesia will be cashless by October," Basuki said.
Herry Trisasputra Zuna, head of the Toll Road Regulatory Agency at the Public Works and Housing Ministry, said the agency first shared its plan to abolish cash with toll operators in February.
The agency has also asked lenders to do away with a current added fee of 0.03 percent per electronic transaction.
"Card readers on toll gates must be able to read cards from all banks," Herry said.
Tags: Keywords: