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)