Bakrie proposes new route for city subway
JAKARTA (JP): The consortium building the long-awaited subway project touted yesterday a new route connecting Fatmawati in South Jakarta to the National Monument (Monas) park in Central Jakarta.
The subway is designed to link Blok M in South Jakarta and downtown Kota in West Jakarta.
Aburizal Bakrie, who heads the Indonesian Japanese European Group (IJEG) consortium, met with Governor Surjadi Soedirdja yesterday to discuss the proposed change.
Bakrie said he suggested the new route after the consortium realized part of its proposed circuit -- the link between Monas and Kota -- overlapped with another transport project.
The source of the consortium's turnabout was the three-tier transit system connecting Bintaro in South Jakarta to downtown Kota. Construction is scheduled to start in December.
The three-tier transit system was proposed by PT Citra Lamtoro Gung Persada, which is owned by Siti Hardijanti Rukmana, President Soeharto's eldest daughter.
Bakrie said that once the three-tier transit system was completed it would connect Harmoni, near Monas, to Kota.
"Why should we waste money planning an unnecessary route if there will be another transport system serving it?"
Despite the new suggestion, Bakrie assured the governor that the consortium was still determined to complete the subway project.
"From an economic point of view, it's more profitable for us to build the Monas-Fatmawati route than insist on operating the former route to downtown Kota. It's not effective."
A study conducted by the consortium shows that the revised project, with the new route, will be cheaper.
He said that the consortium will use a site in the Fatmawati area, which belongs to the state-own railway company PT Perumka, as one of its subway stations. The amount of compensation for the land is negotiable, he said
He declined, however, to state talk about any decrease in the project's investment from earlier estimates of about US$2.3 billion.
The consortium has not measured whether the new route would be the same length as the subway, which was initially estimated at 14.5 kilometers.
When asked when construction would begin, Bakrie raised both hands and looked up to the sky, saying: "I don't know."
The subway's construction has been delayed for long periods for unspecific reasons.
Under the initial plan, completion of the subway project was expected by Aug. 17, 2001, in conjunction with the commemoration of Indonesia's Independence Day.
Santoso Ramelan, the president director of PT Catur Swasakti Utama -- a subsidiary of the Bakrie Group -- said that completion of the project could be much later than expected.
"Until now, we don't know when the project's construction will begin," he said.
Reschedule
After the meeting, Governor Surjadi Soedirdja denied that there would be any changes to the subway's route.
There was no plan to postpone the project due to the currency crisis, he added.
"There's no change to the route. We only evaluated it. The most important matter is that we are determined to construct a subway to help solve the city's traffic problems."
Bakrie confirmed that the currency crisis would not affect the project as the investment was calculated in U.S. dollars rather than rupiah.
"The crisis won't have much effect on the project."
The 17-station subway project is one of the first initiatives in a long-term plan to ease traffic congestion.
The city and the consortium -- which includes local companies PT Bakrie Investindo, PT Pembangunan Jaya, Lippo Group, PT Bukaka Corporindo and PT Steady Safe; and firms from France, Canada, Japan, the United States, Germany, and Australia -- signed a memorandum of understanding to start the project in August 1995. (ste)