Busway seeks more money

The TransJakarta Busway Management has asked for an additional Rp 35 billion (US$3.85 million) this year for its 56 buses operating on the 12.9-kilometer busway corridor from Blok M, South Jakarta, to Kota, West Jakarta.

The management head Irzal Djamal said on Tuesday that TransJakarta had already received Rp 15 billion from the 2004 city budget.

"We have allocated Rp 50 billion this year to operate the buses. We expect the council to approve the Rp 35 billion in additional funding while deliberating upon the ongoing budget revision," he said.

The extra cash for the busway is only a part of the Rp 571 billion additional budget allocations proposed by the city administration.

The City Council is expected to finish deliberating on the budget revisions before its term ends on Aug. 25.

Irzal said TransJakarta had spent the entire Rp 15 billion given earlier, and had to borrow another Rp 12.5 billion from the city treasury to cover its costs.

He said his institution would collect between Rp 35 billion and Rp 39 billion from ticket sales, meaning that all taxpayers must subsidize between Rp 11 billion and Rp 15 billion annually.

TransJakarta spokesman Ajar Aedi said a major part -- around Rp 12.5 billion per month -- of his institution's spending was to pay busway operator PT Jakarta Express Trans (PT JET).

The busway management has paid Rp 6,113 to PT JET for each kilometer that each bus travels.

In addition to expenses for employee salaries and other operational costs, the TransJakarta Busway also pays Rp 600 million to ticket operator PT Lestari Abadi.

From January to July, the busway carried some 8.4 million of the 16.8 million passengers targeted this year. -- JP