The City of Semarang is partnering with the City of Sofia, Bulgaria by facilitating the International Urban Regional Cooperation (IURC) project by the European Union in the development of urban transportation, especially the development of trams in the City of Semarang. The Semarang City Delegation made a return visit to Sofia City on 13-17 March 2023.
Semarang delegation: Government Assistant, Head of Transportation Office and Head of Governance and Cooperation with APEKSI General Manager and IURC Indonesia Coordinator.
The first day, Greeted warmly by the Mayor of Sofia. Meetings with Deputy transport, finance and health and city experts discussed mobility and public transport strategies. Then visit the Traffic Control Center, park & drive, electric charging station also do a city tour with the heritage tram.
On the 2nd day, the delegates attended the opening ceremony of the reconstructed tram line 5 and had the opportunity to meet Mayor Sofia again and enjoy the opportunity to try out the new tram. The Semarang delegation met with Methodi Avaramov from Sofia’s Urban Mobility Ctr. discussed tram transportation and parking management, good practices that the delegates wanted to introduce. Visit to Main Dispatch Ctr., which manages tram transportation.
On the 3rd day, the delegates saw a metro/subway driver simulator. Then, they visited the tram depot to study the operational aspects of the planned construction of the new Semarang depot. The SofiaCoin app incentivizes citizens to walk, cycle or ride scooters through special prizes, inspiring the City of Semarang to create a similar concept for their public bus system. Next, SofiaGreen shares best practices in low-cost air pollution monitoring. The Sofia Investment Agency and the Investment Council at the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry share their experiences on how they approach potential investors. This is interesting for the City of Semarang to attract investment in tram transportation & waste power plants. The delegates ended the 3rd day by meeting with representatives of the Indonesian Embassy in Sofia. The Embassy supports cooperation between Semarang and Sofia.