Busway lane project to begin next month

Bambang Nurbianto and Muninggar Saraswati, Jakarta

The Jakarta Public Works Agency will start the second busway corridor construction project along Jl. Perintis Kemerdekaan and Jl. Suprapto in East Jakarta to make way for the new route from Pulogadung to Kalideres via the National Monument (Monas).

"We will begin the project after the presidential election on July 5," agency head Fodly Misbach told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

The initial 9.1-kilometer project will cost approximately Rp 10 billion (US$1.06 million), and be from this year's city budget. The total length of the Pulogadung-Monas leg of the new route will be 14.5 kilometers.

Fodly said that parts of the busway lane on Jl. Perintis Kemerdekaan would have to cut into between one and 1.5 meters of the median strip since the road width is not adequate.

The busway lane will be 3.4 meters wide, compared to regular lanes which are 2.8 meters.

As for Jl. Suprapto, Fodly said, the bus stops and bus lane would take a large part of the road because the median strip was only 1.8 meters wide -- not wide enough to accommodate the 3.5- meter busway platforms.

The construction project for just the busway lane -- excluding the lane dividers, connecting bridges and bus stops -- is expected to finish in four months.

The city launched on Jan. 15 its first busway line along the 12.9-kilometer corridor from Blok M bus terminal in South Jakarta to downtown Kota in West Jakarta.

However, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) announced that it was investigating alleged price mark-ups on the busway project by the city administration.

"We've found indications of corruption in the busway project, which caused financial losses to the state," Tumpak Hatorangan Panggabean, the KPK deputy chairman, announced during a press conference held later in the day.

He did not elaborate in detail because, he said, they did not want to jeopardize the investigation.

The investigation started in March, and is among six high- profile corruption cases being probed by the KPK.