Shareholders fail to appoint firm to supply monorail cars
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Shareholders of PT Jakarta Monorail (JM) have hit a road block on the way to appointing a manufacturer to produce monorail cars for the planned monorail lines in the capital.
JM director Sukmawaty Syukur said on Friday that two candidates -- South Korea's Rotem and Consortium Indonesia -- received equal support from participants in the shareholder's meeting on Thursday.
"We failed to pick one of the two to become our partner in developing the monorail in the city," she told The Jakarta Post, adding that JM would consult with the city administration before making a decision, possibly next week.
She said that the consultation with the administration was needed because her company was incapable of making a decision on a number of requirements proposed by the manufacturers.
As an example, she explained, Rotem demanded that 60 percent of the revenue from the electronic road pricing (ERP), which is to be enforced along the roads parallel to monorail lines, must be allocated for the monorail project.
JM predicted that the ERP revenue would reach some US$100 million per year.
PT Indonesia Transit Central (ITC) owns 55 percent of JM shares, while Omnico Singapore, Pte. Ltd owns the remaining 45 percent.
Sukmawaty said that although JM's shareholders were primarily considering Rotem and Consortium Indonesia, they were still open to the possibility of Japan's Hitachi putting in a bid for the project.
Consortium Indonesia, which came late to the project, is supported by several companies -- U.S. investment bank J.P. Morgan, the Bukaka Group, state train carriage maker INKA, state electronic maker LEN Industries and Siemens. It is also supported by Hong Kong-based Mass Transit Railway Cooperation.
The Bukaka Group is partly owned by the family of Vice President Jusuf Kalla.
Assistant to the city secretary for development affairs Hari Sandjojo said recently that Consortium Indonesia had bid US$480 million, much lower than Rotem's $600 million and Hitachi's $670 million.
JM and the administration had previously terminated a contract valued at $540 million for the same project with a Malaysian company, MTrans Holding Bhd, due to financing problems.
The monorail project was started in June last year and is expected to finish in 2007.
When up and running, the monorail will cater to transportation needs in the prime business areas of the city through a 14.3-kilometer line as well as a 13.5-kilometer line from Kampung Melayu in East Jakarta to Taman Anggrek Mall in West Jakarta.