MRT project is still in the pipedream

MRT project is still in the pipedream

JP/3/MRT

MRT project is still just a pipe dream

JAKARTA (JP): The construction of the urban Mass Rapid Transit
(MRT) system is still just a dream as the government has not yet
selected any private companies to carry out the massive project.

"The government has not yet made any definite decisions on
this matter," Minister of Transportation Haryanto Dhanutirto told
reporters here Tuesday, adding that the Jabotabek Mass Transit
Development Agency, chaired by Coordinating Minister for Economy
and Finance Saleh Afiff, is dealing with the matter.

Haryanto made the remark after opening a one-day presentation
by Bombardier Inc., a Canadian-based manufacturer of
transportation equipment, at the Jakarta Hilton Hotel.

Haryanto said there are no private investors or companies
whose proposals have been approved by the government to take up
the billion-dollar project.

Last year, PT Citra Marga Nusaphala Persada, a private
construction company owned by Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana, the eldest
daughter of President Soeharto, was among the private companies
reported to have submitted a proposal to build aeromovels -- an
elevated tollway and mass rapid transportation system -- from
Kota, West Jakarta, to Lebak Bulus, South Jakarta.

Apart from the offers proposed by domestic private companies,
last year Haryanto also said some foreign countries were offering
to provide the Indonesian capital city with such a system.

In the seminar, a high-ranking official of the ministry of
transportation, when asked to comment on Haryanto's remark, told
The Jakarta Post that the government is still unable to make any
decisions because none of the many institutions involved in the
decision-making process of the MRT project dare initiate a joint
decision.

"Whenever there are coordination meetings, the institutions
involved usually send low ranking officials who are not
authorized to make decisions. The result, of course, is no
decision," the official said.

Action

Hence, the government must take action to end this inability
to arrive at a decision, said the official, who requested
anonymity.

Institutions involved in the discussions of the mass transit
system project are the city administration, the Ministry of
Transportation, the Ministry of Public Works, the Coordinating
Ministry for Economy and Finance, the Agency for the Assessment
and Application of Technology (BPPT) and the National Development
Planning Board (Bappenas).

When asked why none of the institutions dare to make
decisions, the official said that since the project will involve
a huge sum of money, the institutions may be reluctant to do so
in order not to be blamed if things go wrong in the future.

Last year, Haryanto estimated the total cost of the project at
US$1.6 billion for the infrastructure, including land
appropriation, and $1.5 billion for the trains.

A foreign consultant who is working on studies for the
project, and who also requested anonymity, told the Post that so
far no institution is able to assume all the responsibilities for
the project.

"There is not even an agency responsible for it," he said,
adding that the Jabotabek Mass Transit Development Agency, has
not yet been appointed by a presidential decree and hence, cannot
be held responsible for the project.(arf)