Surjadi checks preparation of US$1.3b subway project
Surjadi checks preparation of US$1.3b subway project
JAKARTA (JP): Governor Surjadi Soedirdja yesterday visited the
office of the Mass Rapid Transit project to inspect preparations
to build Indonesia's first subway, which will link Blok M and
downtown Kota.
During the visit, the governor received detailed explanations
on the project from Tony Ridley, the advisor to the minister of
research and technology assigned to provide technical assistance
for the development of the subway system, the city's public
relations office said.
Surjadi had a close look at the progress being made on the
subway system's basic design, which will be carried out by a
multi-national consortium, the Indonesia-Japan-Europe Group, for
the US$1.3 billion project.
The design is expected to cost an estimated US$8 million, of
which $5 million will be provided by foreign companies, $2.5
million by local firms and the remaining $500,000 by the city
administration.
The foreign investors joining the consortium consist of
Japanese companies led by the Itochu Corp. and European firms led
by Ferrostaal AG of Germany.
The Indonesian investors consist of PT Bakrie Investindo, a
subsidiary of Bakrie Group, PT Pembangunan Jaya, PT Lippo, PT
Bukaka/PT Kuda Perkasa, PT Suthamthabie and PT Steady Safe.
The funds invested in the basic design's preparation will
become part of the investors' equity in the project.
The creation of the basic design, which includes feasibility
studies on the project's technical, financial and environmental
aspects, along with the calculation of ticket fares, will
commence in September and is expected to be completed within one
year.
Construction for the 14.5-km subway system is to begin next
year, and is scheduled to be completed in the year 2001.
The subway system will have 17 stations.
Surjadi said that it was time for Jakarta, with a population
of over nine million people, to have a mass rapid-transit system
which could carry about 50,000 passengers per hour to a certain
destination.
Traffic congestion in the city is becoming increasingly worse
by the year, and the construction of the subway system is only
part of the efforts to ease the nagging traffic problem in the
capital.
"The subway will not solve the traffic problem, but at least
it will help ease the situation," Surjadi said.
Data shows that there were 2,884,000 vehicles in Jakarta at
the end of last year. The growth rate in terms of the number of
vehicles has reached 14 percent per annum, while the increase in
the number of roads built is only 4 percent per annum.
Traffic jams and air pollution in Jakarta have become issues
of deep concern among the authorities and the public alike.(bas)