T

he construction of the Monorail project has been pushed back to the end of this year due to outstanding documents, an executive of PT Jakarta Monorail (JM) said on Wednesday.

JM technical director Bovananto said the company needed more time to finish the financial closing document required by the city'€™s administration, which reviewed the project'€™s legal, administrative and technical matters.

Governor Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo initially requested that the project commence operations in 2016.

The monorail project began back in 2004 but was stopped in March 2008 due to legal and financial problems. PT Adhi Karya, the state-owned construction firm that held a 7.5 percent stake in JM at the time, had actually built rows of support pillars along roads in Senayan, Central Jakarta, and in Kuningan, South Jakarta.

JM, which earlier this year engaged with the Singapore-based Ortus Group in exchange for US$300 million in capital, is now 90 percent controlled by Ortus Group and 10 percent by PT Indonesia Transit Central (ITC), which is partly owned by Adhi Karya.

JM is now finalizing the acquisition of the pillars from Adhi Karya at Rp 190 billion ($19.16 million). The figure, which is in accordance with current values, is slightly less than the Rp 193 billion initially demanded by Adhi Karya. Bonavanto said that JM needed one month to decide if they would pay Adhi Karya because the consortium had yet to assess the pillars'€™ quality.

'€œWe need to confirm that the pillars are strong enough to support the monorail before deciding to buy them,'€ he said.

Ortus Group business development director Banyu B. Djarot said his firm would fund the project, which was expected to cost Rp 8 trillion.

'€œWe hope construction will start soon and we can finish the project by 2016,'€ he said.

The consortium is proposing to build two lines: the green line, with 16 stations, extending 14.27 kilometers from Komdak (the city police headquarters) to Satria Mandala Museum, both in South Jakarta; and the blue line stretching 9.72 km from Kampung Melayu in East Jakarta to Roxy in West Jakarta, with 11 stations.

To supply trains for the monorail project, JM has appointed China-based rolling stock manufacturer Changchun Railway Vehicle (CNR).

PT JM planned to operate 10 trains comprising nearly 200 carriages on two monorail lines by 2016. When the monorail is up and running, it is expected to carry between 300,000 and 800,000 passengers per day for around $1 per trip, according to Bonavantoo.

He also said the company would hold an exhibition about the project at the National Monument (Monas) compound in Central Jakarta from June 22 to July 14.

'€œWe will display a mock-up during the exhibition to introduce the transportation system to Jakarta residents,'€ Banyu said, adding that the company spent $5 million on the event.

The exhibition would also provide information about the project to visitors through interactive programs and entertainment.

He added that Jakartans could take part in giving the name to the monorail by following a competition on JM'€™s website on jakartamonorail.com. (ian)