Busway routes to open before buses bought
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
Governor Sutiyoso insisted that his administration would stick to its initial plan to launch the new busway corridors by the end of this year, although the busway operator would not be able to get the new compressed natural gas-fueled buses ready by that time.
The second busway corridor will link Pulogadung in East Jakarta to Harmoni in Central Jakarta and from Harmoni to Kalideres in West Jakarta.
"I have decided that the new busway project will be operational by the end of this year," Sutiyoso said on Friday.
He was asked to comment on a statement made by the consortium of bus operators, PT TransBatavia, that it would not be able to procure the buses ahead of the schedule amid glaring financial problems shrouding some of the consortium members.
Two of four companies grouped in TransBatavia, PT Mayasari Bakti and PT Metromini, which hold 50 percent and 5 percent shares respectively, have bad debts with city-owned Bank DKI.
Mayasari owes the bank Rp 22.7 billion, while Metromini has Rp 16 billion in bad debts owed to Bank DKI.
The outstanding loans that have turned into bad debts are part of the liquidity scheme given to public transport enterprises between November and December 1999 with a low interest rate of 6 percent.
"I have stressed that we would leave them (the companies) behind and replace them with other operators should they obstruct the implementation of the project," Sutiyoso asserted.
Besides Mayasari and Metromini, other companies in the consortium are Steady Safe with 23 percent shares and state bus company PPD with 22 percent.
City Secretary Ritola Tasmaya revealed that the administration would use existing diesel-fueled buses for the maiden ride.
"We have at least 30 buses we've procured as a backup fleet for the first corridor. We will use them until the new CNG-fueled buses are ready," he said.
TransBatavia president director Azis Rismaya Mahfud said that the CNG-fueled buses would only be ready for operation in March next year at the earliest.
He complained that the CNG-fueled buses that the administration stipulated had made the procurement of the buses more expensive.
The consortium has proposed the procurement of the first batch of 126 buses, each priced at Rp 1.5 billion. The bus produced by South Korean firm Daewoo, will have automatic transmission. It also has 290 horsepower from its 11,000 cubic centimeter engine, to carry the weight of the bus, which also include seven big CNG tanks.
Sutiyoso's administration has been eager to use CNG as part of campaign to use alternative sources of energy and to help reduce air pollution in the world's third most polluted city.
"The use of CNG is final for the busway project. We also plan to expand the use of CNG for other public transportation vehicles in the city," Sutiyoso said.
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