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JICA hints at extra loans for MRT
The company in charge of the construction of Jakarta’s mass rapid transit system, PT MRT, reports that it is close to securing an extra US$100 million in loans from the Japanese government to build additional tunnels for the project
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he company in charge of the construction of Jakarta’s mass rapid transit system, PT MRT, reports that it is close to securing an extra US$100 million in loans from the Japanese government to build additional tunnels for the project.
PT MRT corporate communication division head Manpalagupta Sitorus said that during a company visit to Tokyo, the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) hinted that it would support the proposal.
“[JICA] has verbally approved the proposal. We need to wait for the directorate-general of railways [at the Transportation Ministry] to legalize changes to the basic engineering design before submitting the formal proposal to JICA,” he told The Jakarta Post over the phone on Wednesday.
He said the preliminary report on design changes would be completed by the end of April so the company could submit it to the directorate general for approval.
“We won’t wait until the whole design is finished because we need the loan as soon as possible,” he said.
JICA will be financing 85 percent of the MRT project with a loan of about $1.3 billion. The remainder will be covered by the Indonesian government and Jakarta Administration.
Manpalagupta said the company would open a tender for the physical infrastructure when the design was completed at the end of the year.
Under the revised design, the Lebak Bulus-Dukuh Atas route will be altered to accommodate a 900-meter tunnel from Al Azhar mosque on Jl. Sisingamangaraja to Senayan in Central Jakarta.
In the initial design, the route will start at Lebak Bulus in South Jakarta and pass through Jl. Fatmawati, Jl. Cipete Raya, Jl. Haji Nawi, Blok A, Blok M, Jl. Sisingamangaraja and Senayan. It will then head underground and service stations at Bung Karno sports complex, Bendungan Hilir and Setiabudi, before ending up at Dukuh Atas. It will have a total of 12 stations comprising seven above ground and five underground stations.
The decision to add the underground route was made after considering aesthetic value and spatial planning of the MRT, and to avoid disrupting Senayan traffic circle.
Manpalagupta said there was no need to get confer with the managements of high-rises since the MRT route would not affect those buildings.
“The MRT will not pass under those high-rises,” he said, adding that the company was waiting for a government regulation for the use of the overground and underground space for the project.
The head of the land procurement committee for the MRT, Manggara Pardede, said the land payments would be completed by the end of the year.
As of January this year, 13 plots of land worth Rp 5.8 billion in Lebak Bulus, South Jakarta, have been purchased. The total budget for land procurement is about Rp 90 billion for 2 hectares.
“There has been no resistance from residents, so we are expecting the land acquisition to go smoothly,” he said.
The city government aims to have the long-awaited MRT operational in 2016.
The MRT is expected to carry up to 340,000 passengers a day from Lebak Bulus to Dukuh Atas. The route should take no more than 28 minutes.
