Jakarta,
Oct 12 (Antara) - With construction of the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT)
system finally underway on Thursday, Jakarta's traffic woes seem to have
received a breather, of sorts.
When Joko Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi, was elected Jakarta
governor in September 2012, he laid out three steps to solve the city's
traffic congestion.
The first was to build on a traffic culture by improving the behavior
of motorists; the second was the construction of adequate mass
transportation systems and the third was the implementation of policies
which support his programs, including the imposition of taxes for
parking and purchasing cars.
The 16 kilometer MRT project, covering the stretch from Lebak Bulus in
the south to the Hotel Indonesia roundabout in Central Jakarta, is one
of Jokowi's plans to improve traffic conditions and is expected to be
completed by the end of 2018.
"For 24 years, residents of
Jakarta have dreamt of having an MRT. During this period, some have
perhaps lost hope as the project was never realized. Thank God, today,
the groundbreaking could be done, and it is hoped the project would be
finished in 2018," the governor said at the groundbreaking ceremony at
Dukuh Atas, Central Jakarta.
Apart from being developed as an MRT transit station, the Dukuh Atas
station in Central Jakarta will also serve as a nodal point for
different modes of transportation systems, including rail and water
transport, said PT MRT Jakarta President Director Dono Boestami on
Friday. PT MRT is carrying out the construction project.
"The Dukuh Atas MRT Station will become a center for integrated
transportation modes, such as an airport railway line, electric trains
and the waterway," Boestami said.
The MRT project will have two main sections, one will be an elevated
corridor and the other section will be a subway. The elevated section
will run 9.8 km from Lebak Bulus to Sisingamangaraja, while the subway
or underground section will stretch 5.9 km from Sisingamangaraja to the
Hotel Indonesia roundabout in Central Jakarta.
Based on last year's plan, six underground stations would be built
along the route at Masjid Al Azhar, Istora Senayan, Bendungan Hilir,
Setiabudi, Dukuh Atas, and the Hotel Indonesia roundabout, and seven
elevated stations at Lebak Bulus, Fatmawati, Cipete Raya, H Nawi, Blok
A, Blok M and Sisingamangaraja.
The developer said on Thursday that the route to be used in the
inaugural phase will require a depot to be built at Lebak Bulus.
When operations begin, the MRT can carry up to 212,000 people a day,
which can later be increased to 960,000 passengers per day. The route
will be covered in 30 minutes and the MRT ticket will be integrated with
other transportation systems. The trains will run at a frequency of
once every five minutes, which could be later increased to one train
once every three minutes.
The
construction of the 16 km MRT is expected to cost 140 billion yen, with
the Japan International Cooperation Agency lending 125 billion yen and
the Jakarta regional government contributing 15 billion yen.
Jokowi said the project would certainly increase traffic congestion and
asked PT MRT to keep the public informed of its activities.
"I have advice for PT MRT. Keep the public informed about the impact of
the construction project, as it will certainly increase traffic
congestion in Jakarta," he said.
PT
MRT president director Dono Boestami, meanwhile, mentioned the first
civil engineering project to be carried out would be the construction of
slope protection.
"Slope construction is used to strengthen the earth wall to provide a
strong buffer for the construction work so landslides do not occur while
the construction process is underway," he said.
He added that the tunnelling construction work would use tunnel boring
machines (TBM) which would begin operation in 2015.
"We
will work with the transportation department as we have to shift the
existing TransJakakarta Busway's stops and crossing bridges. We have to
cooperate with the spatial landscape management service, as well," he
said.
Further, Govenor Jokowi wants to encourage commuters to use public mass
transport systems through various policies that he plans to implement.
"If the MRT project is finished at a later date, policies that support
it would be issued. Electronic Road Pricing would be set up in all
corridors to encourage people to use mass transport systems. A system of
allowing cars with odd numbered plates to operate on certain days and
even numbered plates to operate on other days in certain corridors, and
the imposition of high parking fees and other measures, would be taken.
This would make people change their lifestyles and use mass public
transports," he said.
Higher parking fees would also be imposed to discourage travelers from
using private cars, he added. "Besides imposing a parking tax rate, we
can also impose high taxes on car purchases," Jokowi said last year.
"We have to build a traffic culture to set things in order. The
behavior of motorists must improve so they are disciplined and abide by
traffic regulations," said Jokowi.
With a population of
about 12 million, Jakarta experiences massive traffic jams every day. A
poor public transportation system encourages residents to use their
private cars or motorcycles. According to the Jakarta Regional Police,
there are about 3.1 million private cars and 8.2 million motorcycles in
the city. Also, approximately 72.34 percent of the 22,000 buses
operating in the city are old and no longer fit for operation.
Jakarta Transportation Service data showed that in 2002 about 61
percent of Jakarta's commuters used public transport, but the figure
dropped to 20 percent by 2010.
Jokowi said the city administration has given priority to the
purchasing of 4,000 buses to help reduce congestion on the city streets.
"Next year, we will prioritize procurement of 4,000 buses, including
3,000 mid- sized city buses and 1,000 large buses for TransJakarta,"
Jokowio said at City Hall on Friday.
According to the Indonesian Transportation Community (MTI)
organization, Jakarta needs 20,000 to 30,000 new buses and funds of Rp30
trillion must be made available.
Jakarta
has 7,650 km of roads, or about 40.1 sq km, but expansion of roads is
only at the approximate rate of 0.01 percent per year, which is
insufficient for the 11 percent annual increase in the number of
vehicles in the city.***3***
(T.A014/INE/H-YH)
EDITED BY INE
(T.A014/A/BESSR/A/Yosep) 12-10-2013 18:37: |
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