Monorail work likely to worsen traffic
Monorail work likely to worsen traffic
Damar Harsanto, Jakarta
The construction of a monorail project in the city is likely to
cause worsening traffic jams for the next two years and lead to
the loss of more than 200 trees.
President Megawati Soekarnoputri on Monday attended a
groundbreaking ceremony for the project. She urged Jakarta
Governor Sutiyoso to seriously manage the project as it involved
huge investment.
The monorail construction is likely to further clog the
already notoriously jammed main thoroughfares and the alternative
roads -- including Jl. Prof. Dr. Satrio, Jl. KH Mas Mansyur, Jl.
Gatot Subroto and Jl. Sudirman -- particularly during the
implementation of the three-in-one policy from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m.
and from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Trees along the median strips on Jl. Gerbang Pemuda, Jl. Asia
Afrika and Jl. Rasuna Said will also be removed to make way for
the monorail construction.
"It is likely (trees will be felled) during the development of
the project," said Ruslan Diwirjo, president director of PT
Jakarta Monorail, a consortium responsible for the US$630 million
(Rp 5.9 trillion) mega-project.
"Most of the trees to be removed are old angsana that have
fragile branches. We'll replace them with new ones," he said.
The Jakarta Post observed there were 76 trees along the Jl.
Gerbang Pemuda median strip alone. Each tree is about 20 meters
tall, higher than the planned height of the rail lines.
PT Jakarta Monorail plans for the project say the elevated
rail lines will sit between six and 12-meters above the ground.
About 900 construction piles will be erected along the 27-
kilometer monorail route.
The Jakarta Park Agency head Sarwo Handhayani said her agency
had yet to calculate the number of trees affected by the project.
"We'll try to minimize the number of trees that are cut down,"
she said.
The monorail project will consist of two lines, the 14.8-
kilometer "green line", serving the capital's golden triangle
area of Kuningan, Sudirman and Senayan with 17 stations and the
12.2-kilometer "blue line", connecting Kampung Melayu and Roxy,
with 13 stations.
The green line is expected to begin operating in December 2006
and the blue line in early 2007.
The Jakarta administration has required PT Jakarta Monorail to
build both lines simultaneously. This is likely to further
aggravate traffic problems on the affected roads.
The green line will be capable of transporting 8,500 people
per hour per direction, while the blue line will be able to ferry
a maximum of 10,000 people. The fare for both lines will range
between Rp 3,500 and Rp 7,500.