Expert warns of high cost of subway
Expert warns of high cost of subway
JAKARTA (JP): A overseas expert warned on Tuesday of the price
the city would have to pay for its Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) or
subway system, saying the project would be barely feasible.
Director for International Affairs at Japan's Teito Rapid
Transit Authority (TRTA) Kunio Kawakami told a seminar on the
Indonesian railway system here that there were only a few subway
systems worldwide whose operating income exceeded operating
costs.
"Basically, the successful ones entered the subway business
many years ago and have maintained a certain level of demand,"
Kawakami pointed out.
This fact, he said, suggested that such businesses have long
gestation periods.
The government has since 1992 been studying the construction
of an MRT system with a view to resolving traffic congestion in
the capital.
On Monday, Governor Sutiyoso insisted that the MRT project
tops his administration's list of priorities and vowed to push
the project forward as soon as he received approval from
President Abdurrahman Wahid.
The TRTA is a public corporation which was established in
1941. It operates eight subway lines in Tokyo, with a total
length of 171 kilometers and a total of 2,431 cars divided into
eight different types.
The company started the construction of the Marunouchi line,
the first subway line in Tokyo, over a decade after its
establishment, and this was then followed by the other lines.
The company's capital was 58.1 billion yen or approximately
US$5.05 billion, but it was not until 1995 that the company's
revenue exceeded its expenditure.
"It is difficult to set fares at high levels because a subway
provides citizens with transport as a daily necessity," Kawakami
asserted.
As a result, he said, subway operators have difficulty in
maintaining their businesses because of their low feasibility
levels.
Since its establishment, the TRTA has received government
subsidies from both the national and local governments. A total
of 352.4 billion yen furnished through the National Subway Grant
System has been used to cover the TRTA's operating costs since
1961.
"The national subvention has greatly contributed to the
operation of the subways. But those funds should be repaid to the
nation in the future," Kawakami said.
The national government, he said, plans to recover its
investment by privatizing the TRTA and offering shares in the
company to the public.
Urban railroad
On the sidelines of the seminar, the technology development
manager of the state-owned railroad engineering company PT
Industri Kereta (PT INKA) Api, Gunesti Wahyu Handiko, revealed
that his company had succeeded in developing its own electric
urban train (KRL) named the KRL-I.
He said two sets of the train's prototype, with four cars
each, will be launched sometime this year.
"We have been importing electric trains from Europe and Japan
but now we can produce them ourselves. The important thing now is
how to convince government to buy them," he told reporters.
The trains, Gunesti said, are completely fabricated in
Indonesia, although only 60 percent of the components are locally
produced.
The Strategic Industries' Management Agency (PT BPIS),
National Electronics Institute (LEN), PT INKA and the Bandung-
based Army Industrial Center (PINDAD) were involved in the
development of the trains.
Gunesti, however, declined to disclose the total investment
involved.
"By comparison, imported trains cost between US$3.6 million
and US$4.2 million per set. Ours are cheaper than that, but are
of equal quality," he asserted.
PT INKA has succeeded in producing intercity trains such as
the Jakarta-Surabaya Argo Bromo train which serves the East Java
line.
State railway company PT Kereta Api (KA) operates electric
trains within the Greater Jakarta area, carrying some 400,000
commuters each day.
However, many have been demanding more frequent departures as
passengers are often crammed into overloaded cars.(hdn)