City to procure new buses from China

City to procure new buses from China

JAKARTA (JP): City public operators welcomed on Monday an
offer to acquire new, environmentally friendly buses through a
soft loan disbursement from the government of the People's
Republic of China.

"We are glad about the soft loan offer because it will help us
improve service to the public," the chairman of the Jakarta
office of the Organization of Land Transportation Owners
(Organda), Aip Syarifuddin, told reporters at City Hall after a
meeting with Governor Sutiyoso.

Present at the meeting were Made Sudiarsa, expert staff to the
communications minister, the head of the City Traffic and Land
Transportation Agency (DLLAJ), Buyung Atang, and city spokesman
Muhayat.

Aip, however, asked the city administration to help persuade
the Chinese government to ensure the operators be given a special
interest rate for the loan.

"We must be sure that the loan is affordable to all bus
operators in the city," he said.

He said the organization expected that the rate should be
lower than the 12 percent per annum offered by the Chinese
government, and the maturity period to be more than five years.

"Based on experience, public bus operators can repay the loan
in a period of five to seven years, depending on their bus
routes," he said.

"We will take the loan if it's cheap enough for us to repay
it," he added.

China offered the loan during a visit to the country by State
Minister of Cooperatives, Small and Medium Enterprises Zarkasih
Nur earlier this month.

The Chinese buses are offered at Rp 250 million (US$29,171)
each for regular buses and Rp 160 million each for minibuses. The
buses will be made more environmentally friendly by using
liquefied gas instead of gasoline or diesel fuel.

Public buses here are notorious for poor service, emitting
high fuel emissions and their dilapidated condition.

The city administration is planning a massive Rp 1.5 trillion
replacement program of city buses in three years using the
Chinese soft loan.

Meanwhile, Buyung Atang told the governor that there was
another option to acquire the loan.

"We can also use the export loan provided by the Chinese Exim
Bank, which can be disbursed in three to six months. It is faster
than the soft loan, which needs a longer time to process as it
needs coordination with the offices of the Coordinating Minister
for the Economy, Finance and Industry and the Ministry of
Finance," he said.

Buyung said by January this year, there were 5,411 regular
buses operating in the city, instead of the registered 6,454
buses, and 4,981 minibuses. He said there were also 12,764 public
minivans running on the streets.

"Most current buses are also aging. In total, we need to
replace 7,718 buses in three years, 3,707 of which are regular
buses, while the remaining 4,011 are minibuses," he said.

"There are 3,251 buses which have been in operation for more
than 14 years this year. In 2001, there will be 3,181 buses which
will have been in service for more than nine years and 1,286
buses which will have done more than seven," he added. (nvn)