Govt to appoint new investors for Jakarta toll road projects
Govt to appoint new investors for Jakarta toll road projects
JAKARTA (JP): The government will seek new investors to
continue work on the half-finished Jakarta Outer Ring Road
project, a senior government official said on Tuesday.
The secretary of the Economic Monitoring Team, Rizal Ramli,
said in a statement the Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency
(IBRA) had taken over the project from the initial investors --
PT Citra Mataram Satriamarga Persada, PT Citramargatama Persada
and PT Marga Nurindo Perkasa -- and would look for new investors
to continue the work.
Ramli, who is also the chairman of the National Logistics
Agency, said IBRA had taken over the assets of the three initial
investors and controlled 87 percent of the companies' total bad
debt of Rp 2.47 trillion (US$303 million)
"The new investors will continue the JORR project, which is 60
percent completed, with an additional investment of $500 million
and Rp 600 billion," Rizal said in the statement, quoting the
agreement which was reached during a meeting of the Economic
Monitoring Team on Monday.
Ramli said that during Monday's meeting, President Abdurrahman
Wahid instructed State Minister of Investment and State
Enterprises Development Rozy Munir, Minister of Public Works
Rozik Boedioro Soetjipto and IBRA chairman Cacuk Sudarijanto to
coordinate efforts to speed up the acquisition of the assets and
liabilities of the initial investors of the JORR project, and to
accelerate the appointment of new investors.
The President said the new investors should establish a
partnership with state-owned toll road operator PT Jasa Marga to
allow the government to gain maximum benefit from the project,
Ramli said.
The 63-kilometer JORR toll road project is designed to link
all outlying areas of Jakarta to ease traffic congestion in the
center of the capital.
The project's initial investors finished 40 percent of the
project before the economic crisis struck the country in the
middle of 1997, forcing the government to suspend work on the
project.
The 60 percent of the project not yet completed at the time of
the suspension was either in the construction or preparation
stages.
According to data from the government, those parts of the
project still under construction are the Pondok Pinang-Kebon
Jeruk road project managed by PT Citra Mataram Satiamarga
Persada; the Jagorawi-Cikunir road project managed by PT Marga
Nurindo Bhakti; and the Kebun Jeruk-Penjaringan road project
managed by PT Jakarta Lingkar Barat, a subsidiary of PT Bangun
Cipta Sarana Group.
The part of the ring road still in the preparation stage is
the section linking Cikunir, Cilincing and Tanjung Priok. This
portion of the project is managed by PT Citra Margatama Persada.
Citra Mataram, Citra Margatama and Marga Nurindo were linked
with former president Soeharto's daughter Siti Hadiyanti Rukmana,
also known as Tutut.
Citra Margatama and Marga Nurindo operates the Cakung-Cikunir
toll road and the Pondok Pinang-Lenteng Agung-Jagorawi toll road,
respectively. (jsk/prb)