NUSA DUA

Bali’s slow train proposal — flagged earlier this year by Governor I Made Mangku Pastika as a way to beat traffic woes on the island’s roads — may be a step closer to reality following a recent meeting between Indonesian and Japanese transport officials.

Tunjung Indrawan, a directorate of train transportation official, said at the meeting that Bali needed a cheap mass transport system that could move people from one district to another.

The only “mass transit” services available at present are by bus and these are not considered cheap by local people.

Indonesian and Japanese officials at the meeting, held at a Nusa Dua resort hotel last Friday, agreed that a railway system was the answer. After the meeting Indrawan said the department would support the Bali government in achieving this aim.

The provincial government would acquire the land for the railway corridor and the national government would build the railway and rolling stock.

He said he expected moves to progress the proposal to happen soon.