Action plan discussion: towards the implementation of the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan of Mebidangro

 

A final SUMP’s Steering Committee to comment the action plan

Last week, on Friday 4th of February, the Mebidangro* SUMP’s Steering Committee held its final high-level meeting that gathers cities representatives, regencies, provinces as well as central agencies. This milestone meeting was the opportunity to present and discuss the SUMP action plan upstream of the mobility plan approval.

Once the diagnosis of urban mobility and the definition of scenarios have been developed, the action plan represents the last strategic step in a SUMP development. The action plan provides clear measures to pave the way to the SUMP implementation. It identifies projects to improve urban mobility in the short, medium, and long term and prepares the implementation of measures by linking them to specific organisational structures (roles of stakeholders) and schedules. The stakeholders involved in the SUMP development select and prioritise the proposed measures that they consider “feasible” and “realistic”.

During the meeting, the international Consultant Egis presented the action plan and its main measures. In the case of Mebidangro, the proposed action plan is composed of 41 measures (see figure 1) following different themes that include: public transport (with the improvement of existing facilities and construction of new systems), urban planning and non-motorised transport, road network, digitalisation, governance, and environment. Among the proposed measures, some are crucial for the future of mobility into the Medan metropolitan area. For example, it is expected to develop BRT lines, rapid rail lines, safe bicycle lanes and to construct key multimodal hubs. In parallel with these projects, it is planned to prepare a legal framework to restrict urban sprawl, to create a Metropolitan Transit Authority as well as to reform the existing minibus service. For each of the 41 measures, the consultant mapped the main stakeholders/leading entities and analysed the potential costs and risks associated.

More precisely, this action plan schedules to develop 80 km of integrated mass transit by 2035 with modern technologies to support mobility along main axes and provide affordable transport to people of Mebidangro. The network length should reach 152 km in 2040. By 2035, 15% of the area inhabitants will live within 750 meters of formal transit stops and the accessibility will be increased by 3,8% in 2020. The taken measure should then stimulate a clear decreasing of the GHG emission mobility related, around 20%, by allowing new mobility modes but also thanks to a modal shift from private vehicles to public transport of more than 20%. A drop of congestion of almost a quarter (vehicle hours) by 2035 is expected.

Arranging the final report to prepare the SUMP implementation

Main stakeholders shared comments with the international Consultant Egis to finalise the SUMP report. They highlighted that the success of the Mebidangro SUMP will rely on the ability of cities and regencies of the Medan Metropolitan Area to collaborate. In this sense, it appears necessary to clarify the role of each stakeholder at the different stages of the mobility plan implementation process. After revision of the proposed action plan, the final SUMP report is expected to be finalised before the end of the first semester 2022. This will open a new era of mobility and infrastructure development at the scale of the metropolitan area of Medan, one of Indonesia’s leading urban hubs.

From left to right: Representative of Binjai, Representative of Karo, Representative of BAPPENAS, Head of Railway Division DISHUB SU, Representative of BAPPENAS, Representative of Medan, Head of DISHUB SU, Representative of SU Province, Representative of Deli Serdang, Representative of DISHUB Medan, Representative of Egis, Head of Traffic DISHUB SU, Egis Urban Planning and Public Policy Advisor and Data Manager (by Egis).

 

This Steering Committee meeting was organised by the Transportation Agency of North Sumatra Province, facilitated by AFD, and animated by Egis Rail. It took place within the MobiliseYourCity Partnership framework.

(*) Also known as Medan Metropolitan Area, Mebidangro gathers the City of Medan, the City of Binjai, the Regency of Deli Serdang and the Regency of Karo located in the North Sumatra Province (Indonesia).