City to open tender for new busway operators

Tifa Asrianti ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Wed, 03/26/2008 1:14 AM  |  Headlines

The city administration will hold "in the near future" a tender to appoint new operators for TransJakarta's busway corridors 8, 9 and 10, an official says.

"The tender process will be similar to previous tenders, in which old and new consortiums can submit their proposals," Nurachman, head of the city transportation agency, told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

He said selected operators would be responsible for the buses operating in the new busway corridors.

According to Nurachman, the start of operation for the new busway corridors has yet to be determined. He said his office had not yet arranged to secure buses for the corridors.

"We can use buses from existing lanes because there is no regulation stipulating certain buses for certain busway lanes. But those buses are not enough. That's why we need to hold a tender soon," he said.

He said the construction of busway shelters and crossing bridges for corridors 8, 9 and 10 was still in progress and scheduled to finish in July, followed by the installment of traffic and road signs.

Construction of the three busway lanes has been delayed several times. They were scheduled to be finished in September 2007, before former governor Sutiyoso ended his term. However, demonstrations by residents opposed to the busway project delayed construction.

Nurachman said his office recently opened a tender for about 80 buses for corridors 4 to 7, expected to be completed by July.

A 2006 president regulation on the procurement of services and goods requires government institutions to hold public tenders for transactions valued at more than Rp 50 million (US$5,500).

TransJakarta bus suppliers demanded earlier this month the city administration annul the results of recent public tenders for buses and cancel future tenders.

The demand was prompted after a public tender for corridors 1 to 7 resulted in lower per kilometer operating rates for buses. TransJakarta and the city administration decided to apply the lower rates to older bus suppliers, who staged a protest at City Hall earlier this month.

The bus suppliers, represented by the Organization of Land Transportation Owners (Organda), threatened to stop operating their buses if the city administration insisted on the new, lower rates.

The situation calmed after an agreement between the city administration and the old bus suppliers, stating the city would apply the lower rates but that it had to pay compensation. On March 18, TransJakarta paid compensation amounting to Rp 16.5 billion for old bus suppliers on corridors 1 to 3. The compensation for suppliers of corridors 4 to 7 will be paid this week, according to TransJakarta.

TransJakarta ideally needs a total of 511 buses on the busway's seven corridors, 165 of which are expected to be obtained through public tenders.

As for the operation of articulated buses, Nurachman said it would have to wait until the rate per kilometer was settled.

"I won't operate the articulated buses if there are lots of administrative obstacles in the way," he said.

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