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.