City vows to develop four additional bus terminals

JAKARTA (JP): The city administration is determined to continue the development of additional city bus terminals despite a plan to build an integrated multi-million-dollar terminal in Manggarai, South Jakarta.

Deputy Governor for Economic and Development Affairs Tb. M. Rais reported yesterday that the plan to develop four terminals in Rawa Buaya in West Jakarta, Senen in Central Jakarta, Kampung Rambutan and Pulogadung in East Jakarta, will go on.

"The city administration intends to continue the plans because the terminals are still playing an important role in transportation sector," Rais said after attending a City Council meeting.

He explained that people still need the terminals because people who travel shorter distances need them. Besides, he added, Manggarai will not be able to accommodate all buses and the millions of travelers every day.

If a passenger in Cijantung, East Jakarta, plans to go to Bogor, he said, "it will be more efficient if the person goes straight to the nearby Kampung Rambutan terminal than to Manggarai in South Jakarta," he added.

Rais said it will also be impossible to use the Manggarai terminal as the central destination for all public vehicles.

"It is impossible to accommodate all passengers in Manggarai terminal. Can you imagine the situation in the area if millions of people use the terminal in one day," he said.

The government plans to build the Manggarai integrated terminal on a 124-hectare area. Seventy-two hectares belong to the state-owned railway company, Perumka, and the rest is being acquired from the residents. The project is expected to be completed by 2006.

The terminal will consist of a railway station with 22 railway lines on the ground floor; four underground express railway lines; an inter-city bus terminal, with a capacity of accommodating 3,600 buses per day; a city bus terminal with 5,760 buses per day; a taxi terminal and hotels.

The US$285 million Manggarai project will be built by a consortium of seven companies: PT Bandar Mardi Perkasa, PT Cahaya Cipta Adicemerlang, PT Citra Agratama Persada, PT Mitraguna Tribhakti, PT Pembangunan Jaya, PT Sekar Artha Sentosa and PT Suhamthabie Utama.

Rais also said the commencement of the station will take at least one or two years. In the meantime, he said, it is important to improve the service at the existing terminals.

"In the near future the city will start the development of a modern Rawa Buaya terminal in West Jakarta," he said.

He explained the Rawabuaya terminal will have modern facilities, where the departure and arrival lounges will be separated and equipped with various facilities which enable passengers to get tickets more easily.

Commenting on Kampung Rambutan terminal's expansion plan, Rais said that technically the first phase of development has already been approved by the city administration. There is no clear plan for the second phase yet.

"There are many things which should be considered such as who is going to finance the development and whether it is going to be financed by the city budget or not," he said. (yns)