Underground railway project receives mixed reactions

Underground railway project receives mixed reactions

JAKARTA (JP): A Japanese firm's announcement of its intention
to start construction on a 14.5 kilometer underground railway
project next year has drawn differing reactions from an
environmentalist and urban expert.

Contacted by The Jakarta Post on Saturday, executive secretary
of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (WALHI) for the
Jakarta area, Ahmad Safrudin, said he was opposed to the project
and called on the administration to temporarily postpone it.

But chairman of the Bandung Institute of Technology center for
urban design structure, Mohammad Danisworo, strongly supported
the plan, saying that it was badly needed to help solve the
city's chronic traffic problem.

Ahmad said the administration should not allow the Japanese
government to begin the US$1.5 billion project, which it will
finance through a soft loan, at a time when most people were
unable to pay for basic food.

"It would be wise for the city administration to postpone the
project, even though we all agree that it is a good way to solve
traffic problems in the city," he said.

Ahmad suggested the administration could begin the project
after the country's ailing economy had recovered.

"The funds allocated to pay for the project could then be used
to help poor people make ends meet," he said.

Governor Sutiyoso announced on Friday that Itochu Corp. of
Japan had verbally expressed their readiness to start
construction of the repeatedly delayed 14.5 kilometer subway next
year.

Scheduled for completion in 2003, the project would be jointly
financed by Itochu and the Japanese government through a soft
loan to the Indonesian government at an interest rate of 0.75
percent per annum.

Jakarta would be allowed to repay the loan over a period of 40
years, the governor said.

Ahmad said the administration should not take on more debt
because it would only become a further burden.

"The subway project is not urgent for the capital at the
moment," he said.

However, Danisworo said the subway was one of the best ways of
resolving the city's acute traffic problem.

Thus, people should not just judge it from a financial point
of view.

"We should also consider the long-run benefits like improved
productivity because people would spend less time traveling and
more time working. It would help to reduce levels of air
pollution in the capital," he said.

Danisworo said the project would also create a "new life" for
the city because business nodes could be developed around each of
the 17 stations proposed along the subway's route. (ind)