Bali Island, suffering from chronic traffic jams, will receive a new eco-friendly mode of transport. The authorities of the Indonesian resort have signed an agreement on the construction of a tram line that will connect the international airport with the popular tourist center of Changu. According to the official Antara agency, the project is designed to reduce the load on the road network in Indonesia's most famous holiday destination.
The 12-kilometer line will run along the western coast of the island. The construction will be handled by the state-owned railway operator PT Kereta Api Indonesia. The groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled for March 2027, and the tram is scheduled to be put into operation in 2029.The need for such a project has been long overdue. The growth of tourism, the expansion of urban development and the avalanche-like increase in the number of cars and motorcycles have led to serious congestion, which reduces productivity and increases the risk of accidents. According to official data, the situation will only get worse, as the number of international tourists to Bali has already exceeded pre-pandemic figures since 2024.
Interestingly, the new tram initiative has replaced a more ambitious but failed plan. Earlier, the authorities considered an underground subway project worth $ 20 billion, which was also supposed to connect the airport with the main tourist hubs of the island. However, as Antara previously reported, this project failed to attract the necessary investments and has now been replaced by a more pragmatic plan with land-based electric transport.
Source: Bloomberg
