JAKARTA • Indonesian President Joko Widodo has called for the establishment of a Land Transportation Authority (LTA) that would oversee the country's public transport as it gears up for a number of ambitious infrastructure projects.

In an announcement after a Cabinet meeting on Monday, Mr Joko said the LTA would be established under the Transportation Ministry, the Jakarta Globe reported.

He did not give a timeframe for when the LTA would be established, but said he expected it to be ready in time to oversee the administration of major upcoming rail-based projects.

They include the Jakarta mass rapid transit system currently under construction, the high-speed rail line from Jakarta to Bandung, and the country's first light rail

transit system that would connect the capital to satellite cities in other provinces.

"We need this so that there's a clear and integrated authority (for public transit networks) like in developed countries," the President was quoted as saying by the Jakarta Globe.

He said Indonesia would learn from the "best examples of public transportation systems in Europe", where rail and road transport systems are integrated.

Separately, Indonesia's Defence Minister yesterday said his ministry would decommission all military aircraft that are more than 30 years old, as part of a push to modernise its fleet after the crash of an air force plane killed about 140 people last month, Reuters reported.

Defence Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu said: "We have equipment that is 30, 40, 50 years old, planes and helicopters... and we want to replace those with better aircraft." He declined to give details.

An air force Hercules C-130B transport plane carrying 122 people crashed into the city of Medan on June 30, killing all on board and some people on the ground.