THE INDONESIAN FORUM GROUP ON
RURAL TRANSPORT & DEVELOPMENT (IFGRTD)

In May 2001 the Gadjah Mada University of Yogyakarta organised a seminar and workshop on the Role of Rural Transportation in Supporting Local Social and Ecomonic Development. This was preceeded by an NGO event on Transportation Systems and Sustainable Rural Development, organised by the NGO Pelangi and supported by IFRTD. This combined event provided a forum for the provision and sharing of knowledge on rural transport infrastructure, service and technology, and in addition provoked discussions about how to encourage greater community participation in transport planning, implementation and evaluation. The culmination of the workshop saw the declaration of the "Jogjakarta Initiative for Rural Transportation", a set of common principles and understandings upon which rural transport in Indonesia should be based.

The Indonesian Forum Group on Rural Transport & Development (IFGRTD) was established as a means for harnessing the enthusiasm for knowledge generation and sharing which had been generated among rural transport stakeholders at these events, and carrying it forward as a commitment for to future networking activities.

IFGRTD forms the Rural Transport Forum of the Indonesian Transport Society (MTI) and Pustral hosts its Secretariat. Please read on for more information about IFGRTD's latest activities and publications.

Recent and Ongoing projects of the NFG/Network

Economic Measurement of Rural Transportation Development
Including the:
(i) Development of a methodology to assess the economic benefit of rural transport development.
(ii) Development of a calculation model for road infrastructure budget allocation

Information Technology and Sustainable Rural Transportation
The use of information technology for rural transport development
(i) Remote Sensing and GIS Database for “rapid assessment” rural transport infrastructure reconstruction
(ii) Transport Sector Data Base for Indonesia

Study Rural Water Transport Policies
A Study of Ferry Transport Network Development

A Regional Rural Transport Indicator Database
The IFGRTD Secretariat has developed a database for rural transport development in village, regency, province and national level. These indicators could potentially be developed for evaluating the development performance of rural transport in Indonesia and for comparison between IFRTD member countries.
(i) With respect to poverty evaluation program, IFRGTD Secretariat has contributed data and information regarding rural infrastructure database for Deputy Vice President for Regional Development.
(ii) A seminar about the role of GIS for Poverty Alleviation also has been held in Palembang, South Sumatera Province in 2004 in cooperation with the Poverty Alleviation Committee.

AsNet for Rural Transport Safety
AsNet is the ASEAN Region Traffic Safety Network for E-learning and Networking). Pustral (As IFGRTD Secretariat) has been appointed as the regional focal point of AsNet. Pustral acts as the coordinator of the group to formulate plans and proposals related to transport safety.
It has been propsed to establish an Asnet Inodnesian local server and working group on Rural Transport Safety.

Damage Assessment for Infrastructure Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Works on West Coast Of Aceh

Other Publications

Step 123
In 2004 the Indonesia Transportation Society (MTI) within which IFGRTD is hosted, published transport guidelines with the title Step 123. The purpose of this book is to help the general public to understand the basic principals of transport, the condition of the transport sector in Indonesia and what should be done by the government and the public to improve the transport situation.

To find out more please contact: pustral-ugm@indo.net.id

Contact details

Chairman: Arif Wismadi
Secretary: Supanggung

Full Postal Address:
PUSTRAL UGM
Bulaksumur E-9 Yogyakarta Indonesia 55281
Telephone No : +62-274-556928
Fax No : +62-274-552229
Email : pustral-ugm@indo.net.id or wismadi@telkom.net or supanggung@gmail.com