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.