City asked to curb proposed funds for busway project

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The City Council has asked Governor Sutiyoso to reduce the proposed fund for the construction of the busway corridor from Pulogadung bus terminal in East Jakarta to Kalideres, West Jakarta.

The council argued on Thursday that the fund in question was higher than the amount in the governor's initial proposal.

"The governor had said ... that the total proposed fund for the busway construction would be about Rp 479.60 billion (US$51.57 million), which we could understand. But when we studied the draft 2005 city budget, we found out that the busway allocation was higher -- Rp 600.32 billion," councillor M. Mansur Syaeroz of the Awakening Reform (FKR) faction said on Thursday during the budget's deliberation.

Because the figures differ, the council has called on the administration to revert it to the amount proposed initially.

The Rp 120.72 billion difference, Mansur said, could be used to finance projects that would have a greater impact on improving the welfare of the poor, such as poverty alleviation and low-cost housing programs.

The National Mandate Party (PAN) faction, however, emphasized that the administration had to stick to the current plan.

"The administration must refer to the plan as regards financing, infrastructure construction and technology specs...," said PAN councillor Abdul Ghoni.

The administration has considered using buses powered by compressed natural gas (CNG) for the second busway corridor, but this would mean more expensive buses, with the cheapest costing Rp 1 billion.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) faction demanded that the administration report to the council on its six-month evaluation of the first busway corridor before proceeding with the second corridor.

The first corridor runs from Blok M, South Jakarta, to Kota, West Jakarta.

PDI-P councillor Raja Natal Sitinjak said the evaluation report was vital to knowing the public's response and feedback over the busway.

The TransJakarta busway management had only appointed the University of Indonesia's Center for Transport Studies (CTS) just before the July deadline to assess the busway.

The CTS required three months to provide a thorough assessment, including service standards, traffic management, ticketing system, feeder services, pedestrian facilities and management.

Aside from the evaluation, Raja said construction work on the new corridors had worsened traffic in the capital.

"We call on the administration to draw up the necessary measures to ease the traffic jams caused by the construction of the corridors," he said.

Proposed busway fund (in billions of Rp)

City Parks Agency 276

City Public Works Agency 259

City Secretary 65

City Public Lighting Agency 5

Total 600