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)