No delay in construction of Pondok Aren toll road
JAKARTA (JP): The Pondok Aren-Serpong toll road will be completed on schedule despite protest over land compensation.
Arsal Ismail, a director of the Drassindo Group, a member of a consortium undertaking the 7.2-kilometer segment project, said recently that everything had been running smoothly and there were no constraints in the project.
The project, which started last September, is expected to be completed within 15 months, or by the end of this year.
The segment is part of the 13.1-km Jakarta-Serpong toll road, which will connect Serpong in West Java and Bintaro in South Jakarta.
The Pondok Aren-Serpong segment is the first part of the Rp 250 billion (US$106 million) Jakarta-Serpong stretch. The first part of the project is now being constructed by PT Bumi Serpong Damai, a consortium of PT Bumi Serpong Damai, PT Aji Braga Mustika of Drassindo Group, and PT Jaya Real Property.
The second part, a 5.9-km stretch from Pondok Aren to Ulujami, will be built by PT Jasa Marga, a state-owned highway corporation.
According to Ismail, land appropriation had been dealt with properly by the team set up by the South Jakarta mayoralty. "My company is not in charge of distributing compensation money to the residents," Arsal said when asked to comment why many property owners had demanded more compensation.
Most residents of the Pesanggrahan subdistrict in South Jakarta had turned down the compensation of Rp 165,000 and Rp 250,000 per square meter set by the mayoralty.
The Jakarta-Serpong toll road is the realization of the Jaya Group, which develops Serpong and Bintaro.
Ciputra, the then president of Jaya Group, had earlier said land appropriation had become the main constraint in the project.
Jakarta-Bekasi
Drassindo Group is now involved in the construction of another toll road linking Jakarta and Bekasi.
PT Investa Kusuma Artha, of Drassindo, is one of five companies grouped in a consortium to build the 21.5-kilometer toll road.
The consortium, PT Kresna Kusuma Dyandra Marga, secured a Rp 2.04 trillion (more than $847 million) syndicated loan to fund the project.
According to Arsal, who is vice director of Investa Kusuma Artha, this was the first loan arranged by banks and securities companies.
Hario Suprobo, managing director of PT Bahana Pembinaan Usaha Indonesia, the financial advisor, said the loan had a four-year grace period, and after six years it could be terminated or extended at the banks' discretion, while the consortium would float Revenue Sharing Bonds (RSB) amounting to Rp 1.15 trillion.
Hario said that RSB was the best option to finance long- yielding infrastructure projects such as toll roads.
"This instrument (RSB) should be well promoted in the future," Hario said. (sur)