Construction of monorail system to start in January

Construction of monorail system to start in January

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The construction of two monorail lines is scheduled to begin in
January 2004 but the elevated public transport system will only
operate in the center of Jakarta instead of connecting Jakarta
with Bekasi in the east and Tangerang in the west as originally
planned.

The US$540 million two monorail lines will be built by PT
Indonesian Transit Central (ITC) and its Malaysian partner M
Trans Holdings.

ITC technical director Sukmawati Syukur said on Friday that
the decision to revise the two monorail lines was based on the
latest feasibility study conducted by ITC's consultant Mott
MacDonald Indonesia.

"The study shows that constructing a Bekasi-Casablanca-
Tangerang monorail line is not feasible if the infrastructure in
the downtown is not prepared," Sukmawati told The Jakarta Post.

The original plan of the project was a 22.5-kilometer monorail
line which would connect Bekasi and Tangerang via Jakarta's major
roads including Jl. Casablanca and Jl. Daan Mogot.

However, the budgets for those swelled from $400 million to
$540 million.

Sukmawati said that her company would first construct a 14.8-
kilometer circular line. This "green line" will serve Jakarta's
busiest downtown areas including Senayan, Jl. H.R. Rasuna Said
and Jl. Jend. Sudirman with 16 stations.

The 16 stations are located at the Senayan Sports complex,
Plaza Senayan, the Jakarta Convention Center, Taman Ria Senayan,
the House of Representatives/People's Consultative Assembly
building, Pejompongan, Karet, Sudirman, Setiabudi, Kuningan,
Taman Rasuna, Casablanca, Gran Melia, Satria Mandala Museum,
Jakarta Police Headquarters and the Jakarta Stock Exchange.

"The construction of the 'green line' is expected to be
completed within two years," she said, adding that another 12.2-
kilometer "blue line" would be started later. Both lines should
be completed in the next three years.

The blue line will begin at Kampung Melayu in East Jakarta and
end in Roxy, West Jakarta, with 13 stations in Kampung Melayu,
Tebet, Saharjo, Menteng Dalam, Casablanca, Ambassador, Dharmala
Sakti, Menara Batavia, Karet, Kebon Kacang, Tanah Abang and
Cideng.

To minimize the traffic jams caused by the construction,
Sukmawati said that the concrete pillars would be built first in
the company's factory. The pillars would then be transported and
installed at night.

When both monorail lines are completed, they are expected to
transport some 140,000 people per day.

Each passenger will have to pay for a ticket costing between
Rp 5,000 (60 U.S. cents) and Rp 7,500, depending on the distance.

ITC is a consortium of local companies of PT Adhi Karya,
Global Profex Synergy and Radiant Utama set to develop the
monorail project.

The project's Memorandum of Understanding between M Trans and
the Jakarta Administration was signed in Sarawak, Malaysia and
witnessed by the newly retired Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad
and President Megawati Soekarnoputri in August.

Sukmawati said that her company was still discussing the final
results of the feasibility study. But she guaranteed that there
would be no significant changes.

ITC is still waiting for another discussion with the
administration on its role as the monorail concessionaire.
Sukmawati said that her company proposed a 40-year build-operate-
transfer (BOT) contract as the company hopes to reach its break-
even point within 12 years.