Administration welcomes MOU with Hyundai but says of little use
Administration welcomes MOU with Hyundai but says of little use
Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The city administration welcomed on Monday a memorandum of
understanding (MOU) between the Land Transportation Owners
Association (Organda) and the Hyundai Motor Company of South
Korea, but saying that it would take a long time to be realized.
"We have earlier signed several MOUs with bus companies, but
until now they could not be realized," Governor Sutiyoso told
reporters at City Hall.
He said he signed a MOU with Chinese bus company Dhong Feng
last year, but president Abdurrahman Wahid urged him to cancel
it.
Sutiyoso said Abdurrahman asked the administration to buy
buses from local producer PT Texmaco Perkasa, which signed a MOU
with the Organda's city chapter two years ago.
"It's better for Organda to cancel the MOU with Texmaco since
it's still unclear whether the company could produce the buses,"
he said.
PT Texmaco reportedly could not start its production since no
banks were willing to finance the bus production, although last
year, the company had launched its prototype buses.
The MOU between Organda and Hyundai was signed in Seoul on
Friday and witnessed by President Megawati Soekarnoputri during
her visit to the country.
Organda said in a press release on Saturday that the buses
would be supplied in dissembled form and could be assembled
domestically.
The central government earlier promised to charge lower import
tax if the buses were assembled by local companies. Lower import
tax is needed to cut the prices, which range between Rp 200
million (US$20,000) and Rp 300 million per bus.
Sutiyoso acknowledged that the city's current 9,000 buses were
mostly old and needed to be restored.
But he said buses were not the answer to the city's
transportation problem.
"I prefer to choose mass rapid transportation, such as a
subway train or a monorail. But the central government seems to
prioritize other projects," he said.
He revealed that the administration had discussed with a
Canadian investor the possibility of developing a monorail.
He did not mention the name of the investor.
Last year, the governor asked the central government to use a
loan from Japan to build a subway project at an estimated cost of
Rp 7 trillion. But the demand was rejected.
Executives of the Matsushita company later visited City Hall
to discuss a possible continuation of the subway project.
The company led a Japanese consortium that, along with Italian
companies, German companies, signed a MOU with the city
administration in 1995 to develop the subway project.
But the project, for which the basic design has been drawn up,
was halted due to the economic crisis in 1997.