Governor wants non-luxury monorail
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso has threatened to appoint other investors if PT Indonesian Transit Central (ITC), with which the city administration has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU), refuses to construct monorail lines in less lucrative areas.
"I told ITC that they must not only focus on lucrative routes, but also those in less attractive areas," he said on Friday after meeting with ITC officials at City Hall.
The administration signed the MOU with ITC and its Malaysian partner M Trans Holding in Kuching, Malaysia, at the end of August last year, witnessed by then Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad and President Megawati Soekarnoputri.
The governor said the city administration had received at least two other offers from British and Singaporean investors, which also expressed their readiness to construct monorail lines.
City Hall spokesman Muhayat said that Sutiyoso demanded that the contract agreement, which would be signed by the administration and ITC, include ITC's readiness to construct monorail lines connecting Jakarta with Bekasi in the east and Tangerang in the west.
"The company may only develop monorail lines in downtown areas for its first project, but the planned contract agreement must include the development of other lines," Muhayat told The Jakarta Post.
Sutiyoso set the deadline at end of this month for ITC to agree with the request. Otherwise, the administration would open the possibility of negotiating with other investors.
"We shall give priority to ITC and its Malaysian partner, but if they cannot fulfill our requirements, we may appoint other investors," he added.
ITC changed its proposal from constructing a monorail line in the borders to two lines in the city between Kampung Melayu in the east and Roxy in the west.
For the two proposed monorail lines with a total length of around 27 kilometers, ITC and M Trans Holdings planned to invest a total of US$540 billion.
The planned first line is a 14.8-kilometer ring, named the "green line", serving the capital's golden triangle area of Kuningan, Sudirman and Senayan, with 16 stations.
The stations will be at Senayan Sports complex, Plaza Senayan, 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 second is the 12.2-kilometer "blue line" connecting Kampung Melayu and Roxy. This line will serve 13 stations: Kampung Melayu bus terminal, Tebet, Saharjo, Menteng Dalam, Casablanca, Mal Ambassador, Dharmala Sakti, Menara Batavia, Karet, Kebon Kacang, Tanah Abang, Cideng and Roxy.
Sutiyoso said he needed a guarantee from ITC that it was ready to develop lines in less lucrative areas because if it was only ready to develop in profitable areas, the city would have problems finding investors for the other lines.