Steady Safe to operate trains
Steady Safe to operate trains
JAKARTA (JP): Publicly-listed transportation firm PT Steady
Safe has approval from state-owned railway firm Perumka to
develop and operate a commuter train system in Greater Jakarta.
Steady Safe said yesterday that the company, through PT
Infiniti Indomarga, and Perumka will soon sign an official
agreement.
Infiniti, 70 percent controlled by Steady Safe, and Perumka
signed a memorandum of understanding on the system in June last
year.
"We expect that the system will be in operation by early
1997," the company said in statement, issued in accordance with
the Indonesia Summit economic meeting. Steady Safe is one of the
summit's corporate sponsors.
The company said it has secured a US$100 million loan from the
Hong Kong Bank to buy 16 second-hand trains from Japan. The
trains will be refurbished in Australia before being operated in
the city.
Each train, consisting of four cars each with a seating
capacity for 80 people, will cost the company US$35 million.
The company said it will arrange for the maintenance and
building of support facilities, such as platforms which will be
positioned at 1.5-kilometer intervals along the tracks.
The company said Infiniti, according to the memorandum of
understanding, will have a license to operate the commuter train
system for 20 years and will work within a build-operate-transfer
cooperation framework, which will be based on a profit-sharing
scheme.
Steady Safe's commuter train project has nothing to do with
the planned mass rapid transportation system, linking Blok M in
South Jakarta and Kota in Central Jakarta, which is worth $1.3
billion.
The company said the new train project is expected to
contribute Rp 40 billion (US$1.8 million) to its annual earnings
by the end of next year and will continue to increase in the
following years.
"The company is confident that this commuter train project
will succeed because there is a need for new trains," the company
said, adding that it plans to eventually operate 61 new trains in
Greater Jakarta.
The company also plans to operate passenger ferries on three
domestic routes and three international routes.
Discussions of expansion are under way with the government,
the company said, without giving further details. (rid)