Dian Erika Nugraheny, Jakarta – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo says that the Indonesian automobile industry has experienced significant growth, and as a consequence, traffic has become congested in several big cities.
"Our automotive industry has very bright prospects. Every year it grows significantly. In 2022 it grew by 18 percent, increasing on the previous year", said Widodo when giving greetings at the opening of the 2023 Indonesia International Motor Show (IIMS) at the JIexpo in Kemayoran, Jakarta, on Thursday February 16.
Aside from this, said Widodo, the sale of cars in 2022 was recorded at 1,048,000 units, while the sale of motorcycles experienced a 3.3 percent growth, increasing to a figure of 5,221,000 units in 2022.
"As a consequence, we now have traffic congestion everywhere. In Jakarta it's congested. I went to Surabaya [in East Java] it was congested, to Bandung [West Java] where it was congested, finally to Medan [North Sumatra] where it was congested", said Widodo.
"Because indeed the sale of cars reached 1,048,000 units and motorcycles 5,221,000 units, a figure that's very big indeed", he reiterated.
Therefore the former mayor of the Central Java city of Solo is inviting all automotive industries in the country to orientate more towards exports so that congestion doesn't occur in Indonesian cities.
According to Widodo, the number of motor vehicles exported by Indonesia rose to almost 600,000 units between 2021 and 2022.
"But we were still beaten by Thailand. I want to again push for higher exports and for them to increase every year", said Widodo.
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Jokowi: Industri Otomotif Tumbuh Signifikan, Akibatnya Macet di Mana-mana".]
