Government told to initiate Jakarta MRT project

Tantri Yuliandini and Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

For private businesses, investing in mass rapid transit is less attractive than in toll roads. Therefore, the government is obliged to take the lead in building an MRT for Jakarta, experts claimed.

They said the government could no longer hide behind financial constraints so as to avoid constructing a subway network or light rail system for Jakarta.

"The government must provide incentives or provide subsidies to make it materialize," transportation expert from the University of Indonesia Djamester Simarmata said on Tuesday.

The government initiated preliminary proposals for a subway project for Jakarta in 1994, but it never got off the ground due to lack of money.

The head of the city land transportation agency, Rustam Effendy, said on Tuesday: "I myself really want to construct an MRT but it's too expensive and almost impossible to finance right now."

Hope for the subway project was revived last year, when Japan offered the government financial support, but the hopes soon died down as the central government and the city administration could not agree on the burden-sharing aspect of the loan.

The city administration actually agreed to take on half of the loan, but the central government refused to take the other half, arguing that it was still too onerous.

"There has not yet been any further discussions with the central government on the construction of the MRT," Rustam said, adding that the city has finalized its plans for the subway system and only needed financial support to go ahead.

The planned subway from Blok M, South Jakarta, to Kota in downtown Jakarta would carry approximately 45,000 passengers per hour in a each direction, according to the city development planning agency.

The trains would run at 5 minute intervals during rush hour, 10 minute intervals outside of rush hour, and 15 minute intervals at night, and would operate 18 hours per day between 6:00 a.m. and 12:00 midnight.

Looking at the system's capabilities, an MRT would appear to definitely be the answer to transportation problems in big cities such as Jakarta.

Again, however, it all comes down to a question of funding.

The director general for land transportation at the Ministry of Communications, Iskandar Abubakar, said that his ministry would continue to seek approval from the Ministry of Finance for funding of the subway project.

"We also have proposed an option whereby private investors can act as operators of the subway, while the government finances the construction," Iskandar said.

Actually the government had offered the subway project to private investors, including foreign investors, but it failed to attract any interest as the government did not offer meaningful incentives.

Compared to the Jakarta Outer Ring Road (JORR) project, for example, the MRT project would cost twice as much and have a lower return on investment.

The government apparently prefers building toll roads such as the JORR project than building an MRT system as toll roads are more marketable to private investors and more financially viable than subways.

But unlike the MRT, the JORR favors private car owners instead of the general public, and unlike JORR the MRT will help cut down on the city's pollution levels by minimizing the use of fossil fuel in cars.

The government, however, is loathe to admit that its policy of prioritizing highways will only encourage people to use private cars and create further traffic congestion.

Djamester criticized the government for not being responsive enough to the public by building more toll roads while neglecting subways and elevated railways in Jakarta.

He further expressed suspicion that the continuing construction of toll roads was more because of "collusion between government officials, carmakers, and cement producers."

Djamester said the government must now shift its policy and resources from building toll roads toward building an MRT system.

While admitting that the cost of building an MRT system would be huge, Djamester warned that it was government's duty to do so.

"It is the government's duty to provide adequate basic transportation facilities, and it is the citizen's right to be served accordingly," he said.