Monorail project not viable now: Activists

Monorail project not viable now: Activists

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

As the expiry date of the contract between the city
administration and PT Jakarta Monorail draws near without
agreement, transportation activists are calling for an end to the
agreement, arguing the project is simply not feasible.

Activists from the Indonesia Transportation Society (MTI), the
New York-based Institute for Transportation and Development
Policy (ITDP) and non-governmental organization Pelangi said
earlier this week that the project would only force the taxpayers
to shoulder the costly endeavor through expensive subsidies.

"The administration should make an evaluation of the contract
and look deeper into the possibility of calling off the deal
before it gets more difficult for the administration to withdraw
from the deal," MTI chairman Bambang Susantono told The Jakarta
Post.

Walter Hook of the ITDP concurred with Bambang, saying that
the monorail project was not viable.

"I believe that the monorail will serve few people very well
and not the majority. But most people will pay for it," Hook
said.

Hook said his NGO carried out a survey of 120,000 passengers
using public transport along the planned monorail routes and
discovered that the demand for the monorail service very low.

ITDP estimated that the monorail's blue line would serve
25,000 passengers daily, while the green line only 7,000 riders,
much lower than the 77,562 and 38,650 passengers projected
earlier by the Japanese International Cooperation Agency on the
Study of Integrated Transportation Master Plan for the Greater
Jakarta (SITRAMP).

"The reason why the demand is very low is because the monorail
has poor connections with the rest of the public transportation
(services) and its fare of Rp 5,000 a single trip is much higher
than the bus fares," Hook said.

PT Jakarta Monorail, handpicked to develop the monorail, has
requested the city administration help subsidize the monorail
project to maintain the fares at an affordable price of Rp 5,000.

It also asked the administration to impose electronic road
pricing along the monorail's routes to force motorists to switch
from their private cars to monorail cars.

Hook said that he would prefer the busway to the monorail
owing to wide difference in the investment costs.

"The construction of one kilometer of busway corridor costs
around US$1 million, while the monorail spends at least $58
million per kilometer." Jakarta could develop entire busway
routes across the city with the same amount of money earmarked
for the monorail project, he said.

Pelangi policy analyst Andi Rahmah, who is also a member of
the Jakarta Transportation Council, said the busway outweighed
the monorail in terms of sustainability.

"The investment as well as maintenance costs of the busway are
much less than the monorail. We don't even need to subsidize the
project since the operation of the busway will be able to cover
maintenance costs, and even make profits," she said.

The fate of the 28-kilometer monorail project remains unclear,
although the concession contract between the administration and
its private partner, PT Jakarta Monorail, will expire on May 31.

The agreement was signed on May 31, 2004. Under the
agreement, signed by Governor Sutiyoso and JM president director
Ruslan Diwiryo, the company is required to complete a financial
close within a year, which could be extended for another six
months. Beyond that, the two parties may have to sign another
agreement.

Sutiyoso said that he would extend the contract to give more
time for the company to close a deal with potential financiers.