Developer set to build monorail depot next week
Developer set to build monorail depot next week
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
After months of little or no progress on the ambitious monorail
project, the developer is set to prioritize constructing its
nine-hectare depot complex above the West Flood Canal in the
crowded Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta.
"The depot will be built on a reinforced concrete platform
built above the Canal. The site has been finalized. The
construction will start next week," the company's director
Sukmawaty Syukur told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
Sukmawaty said that the depot would serve as warehouse as well
as a repair shop for monorail cars.
Different from the previous design plan, Sukmawaty said the
company scrapped additional plans for an apartment block and a
shopping mall conjoined with the depot, due to space constraints.
Previously, the company proposed to build a 20-story apartment
block, a five-story shopping mall and several theme parks in the
planned 12-hectare depot complex.
Those additional facilities were deemed necessary in a bid to
generate side-income in addition to revenue obtained from
monorail tickets, which will likely be priced between Rp 3,500
and Rp 7,500.
The construction of the depot above the canal, which is near
the Tanah Abang railway station, is also an effort to minimize
land clearing problems in the crowded area, which is already
overrun by squatters' slums.
Meanwhile, the company's president Ruslan Diwirjo said that
the construction of the depot would be followed by the
construction of the first five kilometers of the line for trial
before the monorail becomes fully operational.
"We will rev up the construction of other parts of the
project, including monorail stops or stations and rail lines in
March next year after the disbursement of the loans," Ruslan
asserted.
The US$650 million monorail project will be financed mostly
through soft loans of $300 million and rupiah loans equal to $200
million with 12 percent interest. The remaining $150 million will
be provided through equity by the company.
Ruslan admitted that the construction work that had begun on
May 19 had hit a snag due to several unexpected changes in the
planned route.
The company has changed the route along Jl. Gerbang Pemuda
from Jl. Asia-Afrika to Jl. Palmerah in order to integrate the
monorail system with commuter trains plying the Tangerang-Jakarta
route via Serpong and Bintaro.
In an effort to net more potential passengers, the company has
also revised the route to Taman Anggrek shopping mall on
Jl. Let Jend. S. Parman, in West Jakarta as the last station
instead of Roxy in West Jakarta.
The developer is planning a two-line monorail system, a "green
line" that serves a 14.8-kilometer route in the city's lucrative
business districts of Kuningan, Sudirman and Senayan and the
"blue line" serving a 12.2-kilometer route from Kampung Melayu in
East Jakarta to Taman Anggrek in West Jakarta.
The green line is expected to start operations in December
2006, while the blue line would start in early 2007.