TransJakarta to maintain ailing bus operators

TransJakarta to maintain ailing bus operators

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The companies in a consortium supplying buses for the Busway
refused on Tuesday to replace some of the firms, which according
to the busway's patron, Governor Sutiyoso, are not financially
reliable.

Sutiyoso said his administration would not tolerate the
membership of operators with bad debts to banks in the
consortium, TransJakarta Busway Management (BP TransJakarta).

However, the management argued that replacing the companies
would not benefit BP TransJakarta as expected by the
administration.

"By giving the companies loans, of course, the banks have
deemed that the project is bankable and they can repay their
debts.

"As long as the banks do not blacklist them, we don't think
it's necessary to replace them with other companies," BP
TransJakarta's infrastructure division head Taufik Adiwiyanto
said.

Bus operators PT Mayasari Bakti and PT Metromini reportedly
have bad debts with city-owned Bank DKI.

According to a letter sent by Bank DKI to Bank Indonesia on
July 5, Mayasari owes the bank Rp 22.7 billion, while Metromini
has a non-performing loan of Rp 16 billion with Bank DKI.

The loans were given to public transportation enterprises as
part of a liquidity scheme between November and December 1999
with a low interest rate of 6 percent. The loans were channeled
through Bank DKI.

Although Sutiyoso refused to name the debt-entangled bus
operators, he said his administration would replace them with
other bus operators.

"Those companies will be required to fulfill their financial
obligations first," he emphasized.

Sutiyoso's administration has insisted that it will launch the
new busway project by the end of this year, although the
consortium of bus operators will likely not be ready with their
new buses by that time. Instead, the administration will employ
30 of the first busway corridor's 91 buses to try out the new
busway lanes.

BP TransJakarta said they could not provide the buses until
March due to financial problems.

Aside from PT Mayasari Bakti and PT Metromini, which have 50
percent and 5 percent of shares respectively, the consortium also
groups two other companies, whose routes are affected by the new
busway: Steady Safe with 23 percent of shares and state bus
company PPD with 22 percent.

The consortium has proposed that compressed natural gas-fueled
buses made by South Korean firm Daewoo worth Rp 1.6 billion each
be used for the new busway project. The price is much higher than
the price of the buses used for the first busway route of between
Rp 821.7 million and Rp 846.5 million.

The second busway corridor from Pulogadung in East Jakarta to
Harmoni in Central Jakarta is 13.4 kilometers long, while the
third route from Harmoni to Kalideres in West Jakarta is 18
kilometers in length. Both are longer than the 12.9-kilometer
route from Blok M in South Jakarta to Kota in West Jakarta.