Busway seeks more money

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