Jasa Marga to introduce card system

JAKARTA (JP): PT Jasa Marga, the state-run company assigned to manage all of Indonesia's toll roads, will issue prepaid cards for toll roads in a trial project beginning early next month.

"The cards will be used by the company's personnel on Jakarta toll roads during the trial," the company's operations director, Bambang Sundjoyo, said on Monday.

Sundjoyo said that, before introducing the cards for use at tollgates outside capital, Jasa Marga wants to make sure that the prepaid card terminals, worth Rp 50 million (US$22,321) each, will work perfectly for a long period of time.

The prepaid cards, to be produced by Jasa Marga in cooperation with Bank Ekspor Impor Indonesia, will be used in the same way as telephone cards.

"By using prepaid cards for paying road tolls, transactions at tollgates will be much faster than they are when cash is used," said Jasa Marga's president Mariyadi Darmokumoro.

Mariyadi said that the prepaid cards will have a value of between Rp 30,000 and Rp 100,000.

Indonesia now has some 475 kilometers of toll roads, built both by Jasa Marga and private companies, which include the publicly-listed PT Citra Marga Nusaphala Persada and the Humpuss Group. (31)