Bandung government to build monorail to solve traffic woes
Bandung government to build monorail to solve traffic woes
Yuli Tri Suwarni, Bandung
The Bandung municipal administration plans to construct a
monorail to overcome chronic traffic problems that have caused
losses of more than Rp 1 billion (US$105,263) daily in the West
Java capital city.
The plan has reportedly been approved by the Bandung
Legislative Council.
Anton Sunarwibowo, the Bandung Development Planning Agency
(Bappeda) head of infrastructure division, said on Friday that a
Malaysian investor had signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU)
with the West Java provincial administration to set up a monorail
network in the next five to 10 years.
Similarly, the Jakarta administration signed a MOU recently
with PT Jakarta Monorail, a consortium of Indonesian and foreign
investors, for the construction of a monorail system in the
capital.
Idris Yusuf Lubis, who chairs Bandung Legislative Council
Commission D on transportation, said that the planned monorail
would be the best solution to address the traffic problems in
Bandung.
According to a recent study, traffic congestion costs the city
Rp 1 billion in losses daily.
Idris said transportation experts from the Bandung Institute
of Technology (ITB) and environmentalists from Padjadjaran
University had also supported the plan.
Based on their studies, the best way to resolve the traffic
problems confronting residents and tourists in Bandung is to
construct a monorail system, he added.
Bappeda is conducting a feasibility study on the project due
to differences in views between the municipal and the provincial
administration on the routes for the monorail system.
The municipality wanted the monorail to run through the middle
of the city from north to south, while the provincial
administration said the monorail should run along the Jl.
Soekarno-Hatta outer-ring road in the south of the city.
Bandung has only around 17,000 kilometers of roads used by
around 575,000 vehicles daily.
Idris quoted transportation experts as saying that ideally the
road network should be twice the present scale and that many of
the main thoroughfares should be widened.
"However, it's inconceivable to extend and widen roads as the
cost would be prohibitive. Compensation would have to be paid for
land used for road extensions and too many people would have to
be moved due to the project," Idris said.
Anton said the monorail system was expected to cost more than
Rp 2 trillion, with the Bandung administration providing the land
for the project.