Bus out, MRT in: Intercity bus staff stand near ticket booths, offering tickets to potential passengers at Lebak Bulus bus terminal in South Jakarta on Saturday
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City-owned mass rapid transit (MRT) operator PT MRT Jakarta says it will go ahead with its plan to start construction at the Lebak Bulus bus terminal in South Jakarta, despite opposition from bus operators affected by the plan.
'We will start the construction on Tuesday no matter what,' MRT Jakarta president director Dono Boestami told a press conference recently.
The project contractor will start building an MRT station and an MRT depot at the bus terminal on Tuesday, forcing the permanent relocation of intercity buses to other bus terminals in the capital, including to terminals in Kalideres in West Jakarta as well as to Kampung Rambutan and Pulogadung in East Jakarta.
The plan has been met with opposition from intercity bus operators who say that the relocation will hurt their income and cause other problems. Bus attendants also demanded that the city relocate them to closer areas.
The city administration, however, is standing behind MRT Jakarta, saying that the city had initially planned to relocate intercity buses to other terminals due to Lebak Bulus terminal's inadequate capacity.
'We had already planned to reduce the terminal's functions because the small terminal cannot accommodate too many activities. Protests against changes are expected but we will go ahead with the plan,' Jakarta Transportation Agency head Udar Pristono said.
'If the toll access to the new Pulogebang bus terminal [in East Jakarta] has been completed, we will relocate intercity buses to Pulogebang,' he said.
Pulogebang bus terminal, which was opened in 2012, can accommodate up to 3,000 buses.
Meanwhile, Dono said that the contractor would first establish a perimeter around the construction site to manage traffic.
'We will adjust the bus lanes to allow for the construction,' Dono said.
Also this week, the contractor will start building a number of MRT stations on city thoroughfares by relocating existing Transjakarta bus shelters.
'To make way for the construction of MRT stations, we will relocate a number of Transjakarta bus shelters: Bundaran Senayan and Polda Metro, and we will remove Bundaran HI, Karet and Setiabudi shelters and build a new shelter in between the Karet and Setiabudi shelters,' Dono said.
'We will also extend the Sarinah shelter. We are building a temporary crossing bridge at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle area as well.'
The company has guaranteed that the construction project would not affect the operation of Transjakarta buses, nor would it violate pedestrians' rights.
'The Transjakarta buses will operate normally as we will do the construction in gradual phases. However, some changes will be inevitable,' Dono said.
'We apologize for the inconvenience and we hope for support from all residents so the project can run smoothly.'
Udar said that the bus shelters would be returned to their initial positions after the construction was completed.
The first MRT line ' which will connect Lebak Bulus and the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle ' will have six underground stations and seven elevated stations and will be able to accommodate 173,000 passengers per day.
The construction of the first phase of the MRT project will be funded by a ¥125 billion (US$1.19 billion) soft loan from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and another $143 million from the city budget.
The first MRT line is expected to start operating in 2017.
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