558-meter-high tower to 'lift Jakarta's image'
558-meter-high tower to 'lift Jakarta's image'
JAKARTA (JP): Minister/State Secretary Moerdiono officially
started the construction of the ambitious 558-meter Menara
Jakarta, heralded as the world's tallest tower, at Kemayoran in
Central Jakarta yesterday.
In his speech, Moerdiono underlined the government and
President's support for the US$560-million project and asked for
the work to be done meticulously and thoroughly.
"The construction of the tower should be considered as a means
to elevate Jakarta's image on the international stage," he said
after the groundbreaking ceremony at the project site, the former
Kemayoran airport.
Other officials attending the event were State Minister of
Public Housing Akbar Tanjung, Minister of Tourism, Post and
Telecommunications Joop Ave, Governor Surjadi Soedirdja and
tycoon Sudwikatmono.
The tower is being developed by PT Menara Jakarta with 51
percent of its shares owned by PT Indocitra Graha Bawana, a
consortium led by President Soeharto's cousin Sudwikatmono in
cooperation with fellow tycoons Prayogo Pangestu and Henry
Pribadi.
Forty percent of PT Menara's stake is shared by state-owned
telecommunication companies PT Telkom and PT Indosat. The
remaining 9 percent is owned by a foundation run by the state
television station TVRI.
"The project is expected to be completed in four and a half
years and the grand opening will be hopefully held in 2001,"
Sudwikatmono said.
He said the project would be 70 percent funded by foreign
loans and 30 percent from the consortium he chaired.
"We expect to reach the return on investment in between 12 and
15 years after the project starts operating," he said.
The project was designed by the East China Architecture Design
Institute, which also designed the 460-meter Shanghai Tower --
the world's third tallest tower.
Menara
Menara Jakarta, occupying 40,550 square meters of land, will
be four-and-a-half meters higher than the world's current tallest
tower, the Toronto Tower. The second tallest is the Moscow tower
at 533.5 meters.
Menara Jakarta will have a 3,050-square-meter revolving
restaurant -- right under the 148-meter antenna mast -- with a
capacity of 450 seats.
Beneath the restaurant, there will be five stories, each with
a total of 4,530 square meters of floorspace. They will be used
as control rooms for television stations and telecommunications
operations.
A 1,880-square-meter observation deck and a 4,930-square-meter
lobby will be below the broadcasting floors.
Other facilities include eight stories of multifunction rooms
for seminars and entertainment functions and 17 stories for the
Indonesian World Trade Center.
At the base, there will be a U-shaped shopping center and
parking lots.
The project was publicly announced by then minister of
information Harmoko in August 1995.
It was strongly criticized. People said the funds should be
used for other, more beneficial activities, such as the
improvement of people's welfare.
The controversy subsided after Sudwikatmono said the project
was financed by private companies as a monument to symbolize the
success of the New Order government.
Surjadi Soedirdja shared Moerdiono's view that the tower could
help boost Jakarta's image as a major international city.
"But, there's one thing we can't forget, the city's goal to
improve people's welfare," he said.
Currently, 243,040 of Jakarta's nine million people are living
below the poverty line and mostly in slum areas.
According to the tower's developers, the five stories under
the antenna mast illustrate the five principles of the state
ideology Pancasila.
The tower's three pillars symbolizes the three pillars of
Indonesia's development: equal distribution of the fruits of
development for the creation of social justice; a high rate of
economic growth; and dynamic and healthy national stability.
(ste)