MRT project: A dream never comes true

I. Christianto, Contributor, Jakarta

The number of people that commute to work in Jakarta during the day pushes the city's population to 11 million, far higher than the capital's actual population of about 8.3 million. No wonder that the heavy traffic congestion in the crowded city has become an ignominious trademark.

The government has come up with numerous plans to cope with the traffic problems but nothing seems to have been effectively implemented.

One of the most outstanding projects is the planned construction of a mass rapid transit (MRT) system. The plans were, in fact, unveiled in the early 1990s, but the project was delayed due to the country's worst-ever economic crisis in 1997.

The government once promised that the subway project would be started in 2001 but unfortunately the year passed without any realization. Last year, the government again repeated its promise and ensured that the project could be initiated this year.

Although there are no apparent indications yet if the project would go ahead this year, the Jakarta administration is still optimistic that the project would get on track. This is, certainly, good news but hopefully this is not just a dream that will never come true.

The project, which is estimated to cost the government about US$1.5 billion to build, was first announced in 1994. The following year in 1995, the central government, the city administration and a consortium comprising a number of Indonesian, Japanese and European firms formally signed the memorandum of understanding (MOU) agreement for the project.

The project was, however, postponed in 1997 when the regional financial crisis hit the Asian region including Indonesia.

The Japanese government has given its commitment to finance the project, promising a special yen loan with 7.5 percent interest per year. The special loan package, which would be taken from the Miyazawa Plan and the Special Yen Loan Program, would have a maturity period of 40 years with a grace period of 10 years.

The central government, however, is reluctant to cover the loan payment despite its support of the project, while the Jakarta administration says that paying back all the loan is too much. It instead offered to repay half of the loan.

According to the preliminary plans, the MRT will be constructed in at least two stages. In the first stage, costing around US$1.5 billion, the MRT will connect Jl. Fatmawati in South Jakarta to the National Monument (Monas) in Central Jakarta, with 13 stations along the route. It will combine an elevated track and a subway.

There will be 12.7 kilometers of elevated track from Jl. Fatmawati to Senayan, with the possibility of an extension to Dukuh Atas in South Jakarta. The route will then continue to Monas via a 2.8-kilometer subway.

In the second stage, the construction cost of which has not been calculated, the MRT would connect Monas and Harmoni in Central Jakarta and then terminate at the Kota railway station in West Jakarta. This section would probably be underground.

The Fatmawati-Kota route is one of the two available options. The other one is the Grogol-Kemayoran route.

The Fatmawati-Kota route lies on the North-South line which is often heavily congested with some 170,000 commuters per hour said to be on the route.

In a rough estimate made earlier by the city administration, the Fatmawati-Kota subway project could save the city annual losses of US$900 million caused by traffic congestion.

A research team from the Japan International Corporation Agency previously calculated the costs of the first stage of the subway project at some Rp 10.3 trillion (about $981 million at the current exchange rate) to connect Jl. Fatmawati to Dukuh Atas, and Rp 3.4 trillion for the track from Dukuh Atas to Monas.

Jakarta has developed as a large metropolitan city with an estimated population of 8.3 million people. If included with the people from neighboring towns Tangerang, Bogor and Bekasi who work in the capital, the number could reach 11 million people. Social observers call the latter number the day population, while first one is the night population.

Hasan Basri Saleh of the city's Development Board (Bappeda) said that the MRT system was one of the best options to cope with the traffic problems, given a continued increase in the number of the population and vehicles in the city.

In late 1990s, the ratio of population mobility (average number of kilometers traveled per person daily) in Jakarta reached between 1.2 and 1.3, an increase from 0.7-0.8 in the 1970s.

"But it means a lot when the ratio is multiplied by some 11 million. And, there was a smaller population in the 1970s, so the mobility of Jakartans is now very high," he said, adding with a better economy, people also had a higher mobility.

He said when the mobility became higher, with some 90 percent of the movement concentrated within Jakarta; there was consequently urban congestion and traffic jams in the capital.

With such conditions, public transportation system with high frequencies such as an MRT system is necessary, and not the one offering high speed.

As a matter of fact, many metropolitan areas in the world have MRT systems, which normally carry between 60,000 and 80,000 passengers per hour in one direction.

An MRT or subway system seems the main option for many metropolitan commuters in the world. Manila, Bangkok, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, for example, have for years operated their modern subway railway system to cope with traffic.

Singapore might be the best example for such a project. The residential, commercial and business areas as well as main, entry points and public and entertainment regions are covered by the MRT network.