TAKING a step further in their plans to adopt sustainable mobility initiatives, cities and local governments gathered in the first ever Local Government Transport Officer Network’s Workshop held on 23 and 24 March 2016, in Salatiga, Indonesia.
More than 26 participants from Salatiga, Surakarta, Jakarta, Batam, Surabaya, Tangerang, East Kalimantan, Taipei, Guangzhou and the Ministry of Transportation of Indonesia attended to discussfollow-up activities and updates on their Action Plans to adopt Seoul’s best practices on transportation system. Dr. Gyeng-Chul Kim, Advisor to the Minister of Transport of the Philippines and former President of Korea Transport Institute (KOTI) also participated in the event, sharing his expertise along with other speakers Mr. Dai Wei and Mr. Hu Jinsong from the Transportation Planning and Research Institute of Guangzhou, and Mr. Oswar Mudazin Mungkasa, Jakarta’s Deputy Governor for Spatial Planning and Environment.
“We are very honoured because this is the first time for Salatiga to host such an international meeting,” said Mayor of Salatiga, Mr. Yuliyanto.
The workshop was divided into four different themes: transport demand management, bus reform, traffic management system and other sustainable mobility issues. Every delegation delivered presentations on how they have developed transport policies based the lessons learned from Seoul. They also visited some sites in Salatiga to learn about the city’s transportation system. Experts then gave their diagnosis and recommendations based on their observations. Besides allowing participants to present progress and challenges in the implementation of their Action Plans, the workshop enhanced the participants’ skills in solving problems and developing their urban transport strategies and approaches.
The workshop was the first follow-up since the establishment of the Local Government Transport Officer Forum (LGTOF) in September last year during training session held by the Seoul Human Resource Development Centre (SHRDC) in Seoul, Republic of Korea. The Forum serves as a new platform for transport officials at the national and regional levels to address escalating challenges of transportation in urban areas.
Inspired by the concrete recommendations given during the workshop, the participants said they looked forward to attending the second workshop in Surakarta later this year.
