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overnor Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has given PT Jakarta Monorail (JM) a year-end deadline to complete the long-awaited monorail project, with the aim of the project starting operations in 2014.

In a public hearing at City Hall on Tuesday, Jokowi told the consortium to submit final documentation related to its bid, so the project could materialize soon. “The target [I have set] is for at least one monorail train to be placed on the track by the end of this year. It should be operational the following year.”

According to JM president director, Sukmawati Syukur, the documents that still had to be submitted included those on a debt settlement with state-owned constructor PT Adhi Karya, which used to hold a 7.5 percent stake in the JM consortium, as well as on cooperation with new investors such as the Singapore-based Ortus Group.

The monorail project has been idle for more than four years due to the consortium’s legal and financial problems, leaving rows of support pillars along roads in Senayan, Central Jakarta, and Kuningan in South Jakarta, which were part of the planned first line of a 14.3-kilometer route connecting Kuningan and Semanggi in Central Jakarta.

Jokowi spoke of the necessity of the project. “We can’t live with all these traffic issues forever. We shouldn’t complicate things. If there are problems, let’s find a way out,” he told the forum.

The governor promised that the city administration would impose regulations that would force people to shift to public transportation, thereby ensuring the monorail system would not go to waste.

Sukmawati said the consortium aimed to complete all documents within two months. “We want to start work in April,” she cited.

The consortium proposed to build two lines: the green loop line and the blue line. The green line will run for 14.27 kilometers from Komdak, South Jakarta, to Satria Mandala Museum in South Jakarta with 16 stations. The blue line will cover 9.72 kilometer-long line from Kampung Melayu in East Jakarta to Roxy in West Jakarta with 11 stations.

The monorail will travel the green line for 27 minutes and the blue line for 18 minutes at a speed of 40 kilometers per hour.

Sukmawati expected that the monorail would be able to transport 250,000 passengers per day in the first year of operation.

Ticket prices will be set ranging from Rp 6,000 (62 US cents) to Rp 15,000 for the furthest distance.

JM financial adviser Sujoy Ganguly said that the project’s total cost would reach $725.59 million.

Transportation expert with the Institute of Transportation Studies (Instran) Darmaningtyas criticized the green line route, saying that the route would only connect buildings in the business district and did not reach residential areas.

“The route seems like a tourism route that connects office buildings to malls only,” he said.

Indonesian Transportation Society (MTI) chairman Danang Parikesit called on the consortium to calculate the social impact of the monorail construction.

“The consortium hasn’t yet laid out plans to mitigate potential losses that will be incurred by businesses and residents living along the monorail lines within 3.5 years of the construction,” Danang said.