Elevated railway or subway suitable: City official
Elevated railway or subway suitable: City official
JAKARTA (JP): In the midst of uncertainty over whether the
city will have an elevated railway track or a subway, officials
said either would do to start easing Jakarta's traffic woes.
Deputy Governor for Economic and Development Affairs Tb. M.
Rais said yesterday the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) project, either
elevated or underground, should have started already.
Rais could not say whether both would be built.
Rais and Governor Surjadi Soedirdja said they could not yet
announce the contributions which might help fund the project.
The elevated railway track and the subway systems are the two
proposed MRT systems from South Jakarta to downtown Kota.
An elevated rail would be part of a three layer transport
system, comprising rail, turnpikes and regular roads, proposed by
the Citra business group, led by businesswoman Siti Hardiyanti
Rukmana, who is the President's daughter.
The subway is proposed by a study team under the auspices of
the Agency for Technology Assessment and Application.
The consortium proposing to build it is called the Indonesian
Japan European Group. The President's son, Bambang Trihatmodjo
joined the consortium in July.
City officials and the subway project team's executives have
said the subway project can only start after a presidential
decree is issued.
A public works ministry official had said the three layer
system does not need a presidential decree.
An agreement between the Minister of Public Works, the
Minister of Transportation and the Governor would suffice, Kompas
reported yesterday.
Citra Group chief executive officer Bambang Soeroso said with
an investment of Rp 5.8 trillion the three layer system could
start this year.
Earlier city officials and representatives from the subway
consortium said they could start in April if the presidential
decree was issued.
On Tuesday the consortium estimated the project would cost Rp
4.5 trillion.
Bambang Trihatmodjo was scheduled to sign a memorandum of
understanding (MOU) at City Hall yesterday. The MOU was not
signed for unclear reason.
Despite the time to start the project was fast approaching
Surjadi and Rais said it was not time yet to announce how the
public would pay for the project.
"We have to be very careful," Surjadi said. "People would
immediately reject it if we talked about taxes or fees." The
situation could be similar to when toll roads were introduced.
People rejected the idea of paying tolls "but now everyone is
building toll roads" when the benefits began to show, he said.
Meanwhile Rais said the city would wait for the new law on
taxes and fees to come into effect because current tax law was
confusing.
Both officials and councilors have denied new taxes would be
used to help fund the subway project. (anr)