Japan to help finance Jakarta MRT
Japan to help finance Jakarta MRT
Agencies, Jakarta
Japan has expressed readiness to help development of the mass
rapid transportation (MRT) project in Jakarta, which is expected
to take a total investment of US$780 million.
"Japan has agreed to provide 70 percent to 80 percent of the
total investment," Transportation Minister Hatta Radjasa said
after a meeting with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on
Monday.
The state-run Antara news agency quoted the transportation
minister as explaining that the loan must be returned within 40
years.
"Public transportation has become a high priority for both the
central government and for the Jakarta city administration," said
Hatta.
Present at the meeting were Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso and
Public Housing Minister M. Yusuf Ashari.
Sutiyoso said development of the MRT would include a subway, a
monorail, and expansion of the busway network with the goal of
reducing the use of private cars, Sutiyoso said.
In mid-May, the Jakarta city administration signed an
agreement with a foreign-backed consortium to build a 27-
kilometer-monorail worth at $600 million, aimed at easing the
capital's traffic and chronic pollution.
The project, however, has been on and off for a while due to
among others financing problems and flaws in the master plan,
which also seems to be subject to change.
Early this year, authorities inaugurated new bus lanes with
luxury buses. The city administration now plans to contract new
busway lanes linking Pulo Gadung in East Jakarta and the National
Monument in Central Jakarta, and Pulo Gadung and Kalideres in
West Jakarta.
Observers, however, say many commuters still prefer to sit in
their cars in traffic jams rather than take these luxury buses or
trains.
Jakarta -- a city of about 11 million people -- has some of
the worst traffic in Asia.
Traffic-related pollution has been blamed for the rise in
respiratory illnesses, and surveys show Jakarta's children have
dangerous levels of lead in their blood due to exhaust fumes.