Busway firms may be replaced
Busway firms may be replaced
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso said Thursday that his administration
would remove bus companies that have bad loans with banks from a
consortium in charge of developing the city's new busway routes.
"We will verify whether they (the companies) have bad debt. If
they do, we will replace them with other firms," Sutiyoso
announced at City Hall on the sidelines of a meeting with city
leaders on the launch of a campaign against thug gangs in the
capital.
He was commenting on a report that two members of the
TransBatavia consortium, which will be in charge of the busway
Corridors II and III -- PT Mayasari Bakti and PT Metromini -- had
failed to repay outstanding loans from city-owned Bank DKI.
Corridor II will stretch from Pulogadung in East Jakarta to
Harmoni in Central Jakarta, while Corridor III from Harmoni to
Kalideres in West Jakarta. They are expected to begin operation
early next year.
According to a letter sent by Bank DKI to Bank Indonesia dated
July, 5, 2005, Mayasari owes the bank Rp 22.7 billion (US$2.5
million), while Metromini still owes Rp 16 billion to Bank DKI.
The loans, which Bank DKI classifies as bad debts, were part
of liquidity loans given to public transportation firms between
November and December 1999 with a low interest of 6 percent.
Mayasari and Metromini have refused to comment on the report,
but did make the assertion that the loans were taken out by the
previous owners.
"We will require those companies to repay their respective
obligations first," he stressed.
Aside from PT Mayasari Bakti and PT Metromini, which have 50
percent and 5 percent of shares, respectively, the consortium
also groups two other companies whose routes are being affected
by the new busway routes -- Steady Safe with 23 percent and state
bus company PPD with 22 percent.
He also said he had not been informed about the consortium's
proposal to buy Daewoo buses from South Korea at the price of Rp
1.5 billion each for Corridors II and III -- roughly twice the
price of the buses used for the first busway route of between Rp
821.7 million and Rp 846.5 million.
TransBatavia said Tuesday that it had proposed compressed
natural gas-fueled buses made by South Korean firm Daewoo for the
new buses.
The Daewoo buses reportedly have automatic transmissions with
11,000-cc engines that produce 290 horsepower.
"Of course, we will re-check whether such a price is proper,"
he asserted.
TransJakarta Busway Management (BP TransJakarta) head Irzal Z
Djamal had said that the price too high.
"The administration has to dig deeper into its wallet to pay
for a higher ticket-price subsidy or raise ticket prices," he
said without elaborating on the details of the expected subsidy
or revenue from the tickets.
He said that TransBatavia had recommended a distance-based
ticketing system for the new busway projects to keep the subsidy
costs from increasing too much, if it stuck with the flat
ticketing system.
The second busway corridor from Pulogadung in East Jakarta to
Harmoni in Central will be 13.4 kilometers long, while the third
route from Harmoni to Kalideres in West Jakarta is 18 kilometers,
as compared to the current 12.9-kilometer route from Blok M in
South Jakarta to Kota in West Jakarta.
PT TransBatavia president director Azis Rismaya Mahfud
acknowledged that his company would not be able to provide the
buses ahead of the schedule of the busway operation in December
this year due to financial problems, saying it would likely
launch the busway project in March 2006.