MONORAIL EXPECTED TO ALLEVIATE JAKARTA TRAFFIC WOES

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Feb 9 (ANTARA) - Expansion of roads in Jakarta is only about 0.01 percent per annum while increase in the number of vehicles reaches 11 percent, causing the Jakarta roads unable to normally facilitate traffic flows.          Now, there are only 7,650 km of roads in Jakarta or 40.1 sq km while the number of private cars and motorcycles has reached 3.1 million and 8.2 million respectively.  These millions of vehicles pack Jakarta streets every day, causing traffic jams and drivers' frustration everywhere during the rush hours.          The operations of  busway buses on a dozen corridors have yet to give effective solutions to the traffic problems in Jakarta. Therefore, the government is planning to develop mass rapid transport (MRT) and monorail transportation systems.          The monorail project is expected to start construction soon and be operated by 2015.          "I hope the construction of the monorail system would start as soon as possible to solve Jakarta's serious traffic problem," Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo,  popularly known as 'Jokowi', said in Jakarta on Thursday.          A consortium of five state-owned enterprises led by construction firm PT Adhi Karya is proposing to build a monorail system.          The construction of the project  will be carried out in three years by a state-owned firm consortium, consisting of PT Adhi Karya, PT Jasa Marga, PT Telkom, PT Lembaga Electronika Negara (LEN) and PT Industri Kreta Api  INKA     The Jakarta monorail project that stretches  52 km from Kuningan (South Jakarta), Cawang (East Jakarta) to East Bakasi (West Java) is expected to be completed and operated by 2015.        "If the construction permit of the project is issued this month, we hope that the monorail system would be done soon and would already be operated in 2015," State-owned Enterprise (SOE) Minister Dahlan Iskan said on Thursday.           According to PT Adhi Karya which leads the consortium, the first phase of the project would cover 39-km consisting of sections that stretched from East Bakasi (West Java) to  Cawang (East Jakarta), Cibubur (East Jakarta) - Cawang and Cawang - Kuningan (South Jakarta).        Adhi Karya President Director Kiswodarmawan said that his company formed a consortium of state-owned  and regional government-owned companies to implement the project in two phases.          The first phase would start this year and finish by 2015, while the second one would begin in 2015.          "The first phase is estimated to cost Rp12 to Rp13 trillion," he noted      "We also plan to invest in this project, so the Jakarta administration does not need to think about its funding," Kiswodarmawan said adding that an estimated Rp8 trillion was needed to fund the project.          The consortium will bankroll 30 percent of the project, while the remaining 70 percent will be financed through loans.          Minister Dahlan Iskan said that the project lines passed through Jakarta and West Java areas. Therefore, its construction must be discussed with Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo, West Java Governor Ahmad Heriyawan and the central government.        "There are two choices with regard to the construction permit of the project, namely whether it would be issued in coordination with the Jakarta Governor and the West Java governor or it would be issued by the central government. If the monorail system is designed as a central government project, it will need a presidential regulation only," the minister said.       So, he said, whether the construction of the first phase (Kuningan-Cawang-East Bakasi monorail system) would start soon or not depended on how fast the project obtained a permit.      "I personally want it to be started soon so that the problem of traffic jams in Jakarta would also be overcome soon," the minister said.          Dahlan said that the Kuningan, Cawang and East Bakasi monorail sections would need an investment of Rp9 trillion. The financing of the project would come from the consortium members.        State-owned firms involved in the consortium consisted of construction firm Adhi Karya, toll operator PT Jasa Marga,  electronic firm PT Lembaga Electronika Negara (LEN), the largest telecommunications company in Indonesia PT Telkom and  train manufacturer PT Industry Kreta Api (Inka)      He did not however gave details on the financing portion each of the consortium members would bear.          PT Adhi Karya President Director Kiswodarmawan said his side would start the project after he got a permit from the central and regional governments.       "We hope that this month the decision on the construction of the project would have already been made. The sooner the permit is issued the better so that the project would be started soon," he said.          In the meantime, to help alleviate the problem of Jakarta traffic gridlock, Jakarta Governor Widodo hoped that the Jakarta monorail project would be integrated into other modes of transportation.          "The construction of the monorail project must be integrated into the Jabodetabek transportation system Master Plan," Jokowi, said.  Jabodetabek areas cover Jakarta and  its satellite towns of Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi.        The Jakarta governor said that the presence of a monorail transportation system was badly needed in the face of increasing traffic jams because Jakarta residents now still lacked modes of mass transpiration systems.        Deputy Transportation Minister Bambang Susantono also expressed the urgency of developing monorail as part of the efforts to solve the traffic jams in Jakarta. "We should give attention to integration with other modes in the construction of monorail," he said.        Bambang and Jokowi gave full support to the plan construction of the monorail project which would be done by  Adhi Karya and other consortium members.***3*** (check-editing by yoseph hariyadi) (T.A014/H-YH) (T.A. Abdussalam/A/A. Abdussalam/A/Yosep) 09-02-2013