Busway lane project to begin next month
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.