After fanfare, busway project now postponed

Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Due to a lack of public consultation and financial preparation, the city administration decided on Wednesday to postpone the Rp 54 billion (US$6 million) busway project connecting Blok M in South Jakarta with downtown Kota in West Jakarta.

"Technically we are ready to (launch the project), but the social and financial aspects need to be studied further," Deputy Governor Fauzi Bowo told reporters before attending a plenary session of the City Council.

Fauzi explained that the financial problems included whether subsidies should be paid to bus operators or to the passengers.

"Meanwhile, the social aspect has to do with the public being used to using the left lane. We need to prepare the public for using the right lane.

"These problems need to be studied more deeply than in our first study," Fauzi explained.

Asked when the administration would complete the social and financial preparations, and be ready to launch the project, the city secretary's development assistant Irzal Jamal said, "It will need at least eight months."

Irsal said the city administration needed to select bus operators and prepare for the purchase of the buses by open tender, besides familiarizing the public with the project.

The project, which is aimed at solving traffic congestion, has been on the drawing board since last year with a feasibility study being undertaken by transportation experts from the Yogyakarta-based Gadjah Mada University.

Many people, including councillors, fear that the project could actually worsen traffic problems as it will involve the setting aside of a dedicated lane in each direction along the roads it will serve.

Besides traffic jams, it is also feared the project will cause environmental damage as it will necessitate the felling of hundreds of trees in the median strip along the Blok M-Kota route, especially along Jl. Sisingamangaraja, Jl. Jend. Sudirman, and Jl. MH. Thamrin.

However, the City Council approved the project in January this year along with their approval of the 2002 city budget. It was previously planned to launch the project this month.

The city administration earlier announced that six bus manufacturers, Hyundai from South Korea, Mercedez of Germany, Dong Feng of China, Hino of Japan, Icarus from Hungary and Perkasa (owned by local firm PT Texmaco), had been pre-selected for the purchase of 50 new buses for the project.

Besides purchasing the buses, the administration plans to build 29 shelters and 18 pedestrian bridges for the project.

According to the project plan, the bus drivers would be paid monthly salaries of about Rp 3 million while passengers would pay through a ticketing system to be established by the administration.

Currently, bus drivers pay daily rental fees to the bus companies or owners. This system forces the drivers to focus only on meeting their targets with the result that they ignore traffic rules and passenger safety.

During the City Council plenary session on Wednesday, councillor Soleh Rahman of the council's Commission A for legal and administrative affairs supported the postponement of the project.

"Due to the lack of preparation, especially the socialization program, Commission A supports the postponing of the project," Soleh of the National Mandate Party said.

Councillor Ajarta Sebayang of the council's Commission D for development affairs said his commission also supported the delaying of the project.

"We would suggest that the money be used for more important projects, such as the procurement of traffic lights," Ajarta of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle said.