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Govt to invest in integrated railway system
To integrate transportation services, the city administration is considering investing in the state-owned railway company PT Kereta Api
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To integrate transportation services, the city administration is considering investing in the state-owned railway company PT Kereta Api.
"We see the importance of investing in the company because we plan to integrate spatial planning around train stations, railway-road junctions, underpasses and overpasses," Governor Fauzi Bowo said Tuesday.
The spatial planning integration is part of presidential decree No. 54/2008 on Jabodetabekpunjur, or greater Jakarta. Integrated spatial planning around and along rail lines will improve track safety and the operation of railway facilities, the decree says.
"In the medium to long term, we also plan to merge ticketing systems for all mass transportation so that, say, a passenger taking a train from Depok can stop at Dukuh Atas and switch to the busway without having to change tickets," Fauzi said.
He said that the capital investment would increase the number of train passengers and revitalize inner-city rail lines. However, he did not specify the percentage of capital.
PT Kereta Api separated its Greater Jakarta division -- including Bekasi, Bogor, Depok and Tangerang -- from its other operations on August 13 and will transfer all train operations to the new subsidiary on Jan. 1.
Kereta Api director Ronny Wahyudi previously said the company had set a target of tripling the number of Greater Jakarta passengers from the current figure of 700,000 commuters a day to 2.1 million by 2011. Efforts to meet the target will begin after the subsidiary becomes fully operational in 2009.
The government has set a target that the proportion of Greater Jakarta commuters traveling by train will reach about 30 percent in the next 10 to 20 years.
To achieve that target, the government has railway development plans called double-double track railway routing Tanah Abang-Serpong, Serpong-Bekasi and Manggarai-Cikarang, connecting downtown with Jakarta's satellite cities. The two tracks in both directions will allow for express and local scheduling. The first two are already completed but the Manggarai-Cikarang section is still on hold due to land acquisition problem.
Fauzi said the mayors of South Jakarta and East Jakarta could not acquire the land because middlemen claiming to represent landowners have quoted selling prices higher than the properties' assessed values.
Japan International Bank Cooperation as an investor in the double-double track project provides Rp 312,000 per meter in compensation for affected landowners. The owners have demanded compensation of Rp 1.5 million per meter. --JP/Tifa Asrianti
