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overnor Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo says he is ready to take personal responsibility if there is any failure to repay the Japan International Cooperation Agency's (JICA) soft loan used to finance the mass rapid transit (MRT) project.

As a consequence, the governor will have to sign a letter of statement. His signature is one of the requirements for the finance minister ' the central government's representative ' to disburse the loan it receives from JICA to the Jakarta administration, as stipulated in a 2008 Finance Ministerial Regulation on the procedures for issuing grants to regional administrations.

The responsibility covers the details of usage and the agreement to return any unused funds, if any.

The construction of the first MRT track, which is planned to connect Lebak Bulus in South Jakarta and the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in Central Jakarta, will be partially funded with a ¥125 billion (US$1.27 million) soft loan from JICA. The governor had previously declined to sign the letter, arguing that city-owned PT MRT Jakarta ' the project's operator ' should be the signatory.

'I have finished studying the letter. It's basically a financial matter as opposed to [assuming] absolute responsibility,' Jokowi said on Thursday at City Hall. He added, however, that he would only sign the letter 'when we need the cash'.

Separately, an MRT Jakarta general shareholders' meeting ' held on the same day at the Sari Pan Pacific Hotel in Central Jakarta ' appointed former Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) commissioner Erry Riyana Hardjapamekas as the company's president commissioner.

'Pak Erry has been appointed as our president commissioner,' MRT Jakarta president director Dono Boestami said after the meeting.

He added that Jakarta Development Planning Agency chief Sarwo Handayani and the Transportation Ministry's director general for railways, Tundjung Inderawan, had been appointed as commissioners.

The meeting also appointed Trisakti University urban planner Fransiscus Trisbiantara and the Finance Ministry's director general for fiscal balance, Adriansyah, to join the company's board of commissioners.

Erry was one of the first KPK commissioners, serving from 2003 to 2007. Prior to joining the antigraft commission, Erry had held a number of senior positions in several state-owned enterprises, including the country's largest tin miner, PT Timah, coal miner PT Tambang Batubara Bukit Asam and property developer Perum Perumnas.

Dono said he would announce the winner of the MRT project tender next week.