T

he long-stalled monorail project is set to get the go-ahead as Governor Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo announced on Wednesday his final decision to revive the Rp 8.1 trillion (US$800 million) megaproject.

'€œToday I announce that I have approved the plan to resume the monorail project by consortium PT Jakarta Monorail. I expect the project will be completed within three years,'€ Jokowi said at a monorail exhibition at Monas, Central Jakarta.

Jokowi proceeded to hand over the signed letter of authority to PT Jakarta Monorail (JM) president director Sukmawati Syukur.

Sukma said that the company would go all-out to meet the target set by the governor. '€œWe will review all of the documents, design and the quality of the support pillars within the next three months to find out whether or not changes are needed,'€ she told reporters, adding that the company would first resume construction of the pillars.

She was referring to rows of support pillars along roads in Senayan, Central Jakarta, and in Kuningan, South Jakarta, which were built by state-owned construction company PT Adhi Karya '€” which then held 7.5 percent stake in the company '€” in 2004. The pillar construction was stopped in 2008 as JM failed to pay Adhi Karya.

Earlier this year, JM and Adhi Karya agreed to settle the debts, with the former agreeing to pay the latter Rp 190 billion for the pillars.

'€œAccording to our written agreement, the payment will be carried out after the reviews are all completed,'€ she said.

Edward Soeryadjaya, the chairman of Ortus Holdings Ltd, JM'€™s majority shareholder, confirmed the company would be able to provide the funds needed to finance the Rp 8.1 trillion project.

'€œWe will use our own cash and loans. We guarantee the funding, we wouldn'€™t start something if we were not sure about it. We also don'€™t want to use government money to avoid bureaucratic problems,'€ he said, adding that he was optimistic the project would be completed on time because '€œthis project won'€™t involve land acquisitions.'€

Sukmawati said that the company would soon begin the process of choosing contractors. '€œWe will announce the contractors after three months,'€ she said.

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

PT JM plans to operate 10 trains comprising six cars each on the two lines by 2016, each train will be capable of carrying 1,220 passengers. The monorail is expected to transport between 300,000 and 800,000 passengers per day for around Rp 10,000 per trip.

Edward said that Ortus expected to reach break-event point within nine to 10 years of operations.

Jokowi said that he would encourage a consortium of state-owned enterprises, which has proposed to build other monorail lines connecting the capital and areas on the outskirts of Jakarta, to also start their project soon.

'€œI hope the other consortium can soon make progress,'€ he said.

The consortium of state-owned enterprises, comprising Adhi Karya, toll road operator PT Jasa Marga, train manufacturer PT INKA, telecommunications firm PT Telkom and electronic components maker PT LEN Industry, has proposed building monorail lines to connect East Bekasi and Cawang, East Jakarta; Cibubur and Cawang; and Cawang and Kuningan, South Jakarta.

The monorail is designed to serve the Cawang-Kuningan route in 15 minutes, the Cibubur-Cawang route in 18 minutes and the East Bekasi-Cawang in 24 minutes.