City to prioritize primary busway corridors
Damar Harsanto The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
The city administration has decided to prioritize the development of six primary busway corridors prior to 2007, instead of 12 as announced earlier.
"The City Public Works Agency is now studying the planned 12 corridors and will pick six priority corridors as their presence will make a significant improvement to the whole transportation system," City Secretary Ritola Tasmaya told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.
Ritola did not reveal the reasons behind the scaling down of the plan, but financing problems were probably one of the causes. The city administration has halted the construction of the Pulogadung-Harmoni and Harmoni-Kalideres busway corridors, known as corridors 2 and 3, due to financial difficulties.
Ritola said that the six priority corridors would be classified as multi-year projects.
"It means the projects will enjoy continuous financing for several years from the city budget," he said.
Ritola's statement was in line with the administration's initial plan stipulated in the Jakarta Transportation Master Plan (PTM) 2004 made available to the Post.
The plan indicates that the administration will develop seven busway corridors by 2007.
The corridors will be supported by primary routes served by buses and secondary routes served by both buses and minibuses.
The master plan also states that the administration will further extend the project with seven more new routes, which will be developed after 2007.
Governor Sutiyoso had earlier said that the city administration would develop 12 busway corridors by 2007, when his second term ends.
City Public Works Agency head Fodly Misbach said earlier that the development of the 12 busway corridors would require between Rp 2.5 trillion (US$275 million) and Rp 3 trillion in investment.
The Jakarta Planning Agency (Bapeda) has been assigned to prepare budget allocations for the financing of the busway.
Meanwhile, Jakarta Transportation Agency head Rustam Effendy Sidabutar acknowledged that the administration would find it difficult to go ahead with the acceleration project, mainly due to glaring problems in the field.
"We need to widen some roads to be used as busway corridors. And that's not an easy task to do, especially due to the land acquisition issue," Rustam said.
Many of the city's projects have hit snags owing to land acquisition problems, like the development of East Flood Canal, Pulogebang bus terminal.
The administration has allocated more than Rp 500 billion from its 2005 city budget for the establishment of two busway corridors, which will connect Pulogadung in East Jakarta with Harmoni in Central Jakarta and Harmoni with Kalideres in West Jakarta. Both corridors are slated to become operational in October.
The administration spent at least Rp 240 billion to build the first busway corridor from Blok M in South Jakarta to Kota in West Jakarta early last year.
Development of Priority Bus Infrastructure by 2007
Corridors 1. Blok M - Kota 2. Pulogebang - Hotel Indonesia traffic circle 3. Daan Mogot - Juanda 4. Pulogebang - Tanah Abang 5. Kampung Melayu - Ancol 6. Kampung Melayu - Cideng 7. Pasar Minggu - Manggarai
Extended corridors, to be developed between 2007 and 2010 - Kampung Rambutan - Kampung Melayu - Warung Jati - Menteng - Tomang - Harmoni - Pasar Baru - Cakung/Pulo Gebang - Kampung Melayu - Senayan - Pejompongan - Lebak Bulus - Kebayoran Lama - Cawang - Ciledug
Source: Jakarta Transportation System Master Plan 2004 (PTM)