Sutiyoso returns with projects
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
After a five-day official visit to Japan, Governor Sutiyoso announced here on Tuesday that the monorail project would proceed with Japanese firm Hitachi as its top investor, after the original investor, Malaysia's MTrans Holding Sdn. Bhd., was dropped on Monday.
"Their (Hitachi) offer costs more but it will be worth it as the company has good quality monorail technology," he announced at City Hall.
Hitachi offered to build the monorail for around US$600 million (more than Rp 5 trillion), higher than MTrans' $540 million offer.
Sutiyoso expressed optimism that with the new investor, the monorail, both lucrative and less lucrative routes, would be completed in two-and-a-half years and start operation by the end of 2006.
"The monorail will be the largest project we start this year."
The lucrative route will be a 14.8-kilometer stretch serving the capital's golden triangle of Kuningan, Sudirman and Senayan while the less-lucrative route will be a 12.2-kilometer route from Kampung Melayu, East Jakarta, to Roxy, West Jakarta.
The governor praised Hitachi for applying its monorail technology in Japan for around 40 years without any errors or fatal accidents.
"The monorail in Malaysia is good but has not been proven in the long-run, unlike the Japanese," he said.
Malaysia launched its monorail late last year.
The Indonesia Transit Central (ITC) said on Monday that it had dropped MTrans from the top investor list following the Malaysian firm's failure to advise whether it would go ahead with the project.
The memorandum of understanding between ITC and MTrans, which was signed last year, expired on Feb. 28.
Besides observing the monorail in Japan, Sutiyoso also visited Yokohama seaport, one of the largest seaports in Japan.
The governor said he was impressed by the seaport and would transform Tanjung Priok Port in North Jakarta into a modern one in a foreign direct investment scheme amounting to $75 million.
"Jakarta urgently needs a (modern) seaport that provides better services and well-arranged facilities to make it more competitive amid stiff competition among seaports in the Southeast Asian region," he said.
Sutiyoso said that local company Marindo Bahtera Development had offered to mediate between potential investors and the administration for the project.
"The company told us it has access to banks in Japan, which are willing to finance the project," he said, without mentioning when the project would start.
"We must discuss the project first with relevant parties, including the Ministry of Communications and seaport operator Pelindo before it starts."
Sutiyoso criticized Tanjung Priok Port's poor conditions and compared it with Yokohama seaport. He said the disorganized working system in Tanjung Priok had made costs high and less competitive.
He claimed that once Jakarta had a new seaport, businessmen could reduce their expenses for loading activities by up to 10 times from current costs. The planned port will be able to accommodate large vessels of up to 75,000 deadweight tons.