Posted on 10 Sep 2015
The government has decided to absorb
a large potion of the costs in the construction of the Light Rail Transit (LRT)
system connecting the capital city Jakarta with its suburbs, including Bekasi
and Bogor in West Java. The government hopes this decision will allow users pay
a cheaper fare.
The Transportation Ministry’s director general for railways Hermanto Dwiatmoko
said Tuesday that his ministry would shoulder 70 percent of the total Rp 23.8
trillion (US$1.67 billion) in the planned investment expenditure, and would pay
close attention to expenses in the construction of the infrastructure.
Hermanto added that the remaining 30 percent of the investment, mainly
allocated to procure operational facilities including train cars, would be
absorbed by the operators. The operators will be appointed via a tender
process.
“Transportion is in the realm of public services. We’ve decided to partly
finance the project to ensure that [the fare] will be affordable for the
public,” Hermanto said at a press conference.
According to Hermanto, with the government’s participation in the investment,
the fee a passenger will have to pay per trip could be reduced to something as
low as between Rp 10,000-15,000 per trip. This constitutes a sizable reduction
from the initial planned fee of Rp 37,500 per trip.
The LRT system is expected to help reduce the number of vehicles moving in and
out of the city everyday and to become part of the solution to Jakarta’s gridlocked
traffic.
Last week, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo issued two regulations to speed up
development of the LRT.
Presidential Decree No. 98/2015 stipulates that state-run developer Adhi Karya
will be in charge for the construction work of the Greater Jakarta LRT system,
while Presidential Decree No. 99/2015 stipulates that the Jakarta Governor will
determine the LRT routes to be built within the city and that furthermore, the
Jakarta network must be integrated within the Greater Jakarta LRT.
Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama confirmed earlier that city-owned
developer Jakarta Propertindo (Jakpro) would be responsible for the
construction of the Jakarta LRT. The administration has also established an LRT
technical management unit (UPT) under the City Transportation Agency.
President Jokowi is scheduled to attend a groundbreaking ceremony at Taman Mini
Indonesia Indah in East Jakarta on Wednesday, marking the beginning of the
first phase of construction.
Among the planned routes is a 24.2-kilometer long Cibubur-Cawang-Dukuh Atas
route and a 17.9-kilometer long Bekasi Timur-Cawang-Dukuh Atas route.
The LRT is set to reach a maximum speed of 80 kilometers per hour, enabling
passengers to commute from Cibubur in East Jakarta to the Sudirman area in
Central Jakarta within just 30 minutes. An LRT train has a capacity of 300
passengers.
The construction of the LRT system is expected to be completed before 2018 when
the city hosts the Asian Games, a the quadrennial sporting event.
