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)