Quo vadis, Jakarta monorail?<\/p>\n
While Jakarta traffic grows more chaotic day by day, and the
\nadministration is seemingly unable to remedy the situation, the
\nconstruction of the city's first monorail, which is expected to
\nhelp ease congestion, has been at a virtual standstill since its
\nwork started in June 2004.<\/p>\n
The absence of adequate information from the administration as
\nto why the project has stopped and what has really happened has
\nprovoked understandable public speculation.<\/p>\n
Motorists passing along Jl. Asia-Afrika -- the Senayan Stadium
\narea -- are puzzled when seeing a number of unfinished reinforced
\npillars along the median strip, which stand out like white
\nelephants.<\/p>\n
These stumps are the work of PT Jakarta Monorail, a joint
\nventure between PT Indonesia Transit Central (ITC) with 55
\npercent, and the Omnico Group of Singapore, which is authorized
\nto build and manage the monorail project under a 30-year
\nconcession from the Jakarta municipal administration.<\/p>\n
Omnico replaced a Malaysian company, MTrans Holding Sdn Bhd,.
\nwith which ITC had signed an MoU in Kuching in August, 2003, at a
\nceremony witnessed by then Malaysian prime minister Mahathir
\nMohammad and then president Megawati Soekarnoputri.<\/p>\n
The project seemed to get off to a good start in mid-June last
\nyear, a month after the awarding of the concession by Governor
\nSutiyoso to Jakarta Monorail. Foundations were driven into Jl.
\nAsia Africa and with great fanfare as Megawati again stood by.
\nHowever, the work stopped altogether only after a few weeks.<\/p>\n
Omnico later said the MoU between ITC and the Indonesian
\nConsortium was signed without its approval.<\/p>\n
The US$600 million project then changed hands again in July
\nwhen ITC, the Indonesian partner of Jakarta Monorail, suddenly
\nsigned a MoU with an Indonesian consortium led by PT Bukaka
\nTeknik Utama (partly owned by Vice President Jusuf Kalla), with
\nthe support of state-owned PT INKA, the Bandung-based PT LEN
\nelectronics industry and PT Siemens Indonesia.<\/p>\n
The oft changes in the partners have undoubtedly led to
\nallegations that certain parties with strong vested interests and
\npowerful political backing had jumped on the project.<\/p>\n
Before the MoU between ITC and Bukaka was signed, the Jakarta
\nadministration had approved Jakarta Monorail's decision to use
\nSouth Korean technology, a form of magnetic levitation or \"mag-
\nlev\", which was developed by Rotem. Rotem is part of the Omnico
\nconsortium that also includes Singapore's Mass Rapid Transport
\nPte. Ltd. and Singapore Technologies Engineering Pte. Ltd.<\/p>\n
The dispute between Jakarta Monorail shareholders escalated
\nafter the Indonesian partner (ITC) and its Konsortium Indonesia,
\napparently with the suppport of the Jakarta administration,
\ndecided last month to use Siemens' \"straddle\" or \"buggy\"
\ntechnology, which they claim is much cheaper than the high-tech
\nmag-lev system.<\/p>\n
While the shareholders of Jakarta Monorail, the holder of the
\nconcession, are embroiled in a dispute, it is the public that is
\nthe real loser, as the project will certainly fall behind
\nschedule. One has to wonder why the Jakarta administration
\nallowed the tug-of-war between the business partners to drag on
\nthis long.<\/p>\n
If the main concern is technology, the administration must see
\nto it that Jakarta Monorail chooses the most reliable test-proven
\nsystem. In such a case, funding would probably become the second
\npriority as better technology generally means a safer system.<\/p>\n
If the real concern is jobs for local companies, however, it
\nwould be a big risk to award such a modern transportation system
\nto contractors without any experience and track record because
\nwhat would be at stake is public safety.<\/p>\n
Many people, who are fed up with traffic gridlock, believe
\nthat monorail system would be compatible to the existing busway
\nas an alternative to a full MRT and they want this new mode of
\ntransportation be completed on schedule in 2007.<\/p>\n
Governor Sutiyono has repeatedly said that he would stake his
\nreputation on the scheduled completion of the monorail project.<\/p>\n
The city administration, therefore, should intervene into
\nresolving the dispute between the Jakarta Monorail shareholders
\nin order to speed up the project's implementation.<\/p>\n
Otherwise foreign investors will lose whatever little
\nconfidence they have left investing in Indonesia's infrastructure
\ndevelopment.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/quo-vadis-jakarta-monorail-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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