City Council stalling monorail over money<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
City councillors rejected on Thursday the financing requirements
\ndemanded by monorail builder PT Jakarta Monorail, saying they
\nwould only burden the people.<\/p>\n
The city administration has appointed PT Jakarta Monorail (JM)
\nto build two monorail lines worth US$650 million.<\/p>\n
The first, 14.3-kilometer green monorail line would pass along
\nJl. Taman Rasuna in South Jakarta, Jl. Gatot Subroto, Satria
\nMandala Museum, the city police headquarters, Sudirman Central
\nBusiness District, Bung Karno sports complex, Palmerah,
\nPejompongan, Duku Atas railway station, Setia Budi Utara and
\ncentral Kuningan.<\/p>\n
The second, blue monorail line would link Taman Anggrek Mall
\nin West Jakarta with Kampung Melayu bus station in East Jakarta.<\/p>\n
The two lines are expected to begin operations in 2007.<\/p>\n
JM, owned by PT Indonesia Central Transit (ITC) and Omnico
\nSingapore, Pte. Ltd, had asked the city to guarantee its loan
\nrepayments, to give it an annual subsidy worth $20 million for
\nseven to eight years, and to charge vehicles passing along the
\nmonorail corridors in an electronic road pricing (ERP) scheme.<\/p>\n
JM also asked the city to pay $60 million into the project as
\nequity sharing.<\/p>\n
The new demands would allow JM to secure bank loans badly
\nneeded for the project.<\/p>\n
ITC has invested $40 million into the project so far, while
\nOmnico Singapore has paid in $100 million.<\/p>\n
Chairman of the City Council's Commission D for development
\naffairs Sayogo Hendrosubroto said the existing cooperation
\nagreement should be revised if JM demanded additional
\nrequirements for the project.<\/p>\n
"Under the current agreement, the monorail project is purely
\nprivate investment. The city administration's involvement in the
\nproject would change the status of the endeavor," he told The
\nJakarta Post on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Fellow Commission D member Arkeno said he could only agree to
\nJM's proposal for the administration to have shares in the
\nproject, but not any subsidy or ERP.<\/p>\n
"Any involvement of the city administration shows the city's
\ncommitment to the project," said Arkeno, a councillor of the
\nProsperous Justice Party (PKS) faction.<\/p>\n
He said that it would not be fair if Jakartans shouldered the
\noperational costs of the planned monorail.<\/p>\n
"We should be spending such amounts of money on other urgent
\nprograms like poverty eradication," he told the Post on Thursday.<\/p>\n
JM President Director Ruslan Diwirjo said on Thursday the
\nadditional requirements were needed to convince potential
\ninvestors that the project received full support from the
\nadministration.<\/p>\n
According to Ruslan, an ERP enforced along monorail corridors
\nwould ensure passengers used the service.<\/p>\n
Deputy Governor Fauzi Bowo said the administration had not
\nagreed to the new demands and further discussion was needed.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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