Governor Joko âJokowiâ Widodo is considering finding a new investor to reboot the capitalâs stalled monorail project
overnor Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo is considering finding a new investor to reboot the capital's stalled monorail project.
On Monday evening, Deputy Governor Basuki 'Ahok' Tjahaja Purnama left a meeting with the governor carrying a proposal titled 'Metro Kapsul'. He refused to reveal the details of the proposal to journalists, saying that he was tasked by the governor to study its contents.
Jokowi on Tuesday acknowledged that the city was considering hiring a local consortium he declined to name that was proposing building a monorail line in addition to the two already planned. He rejected speculation that the consortium would replace PT Jakarta Monorail, which is charged with building the first two lines of the monorail but after nearly a decade has yet to show significant progress.
'We will need a lot of lines to cover the capital. A city in Eastern Europe has only 1.8 million residents yet it has a subway and buses. Here we just started to build the first line of a mass rapid transit and two lines for a monorail,' he told reporters at City Hall.
According to Jokowi, the Metro Kapsul, the monorail proposed by the local consortium, had a smaller capacity-per-carry but a larger total capacity.
Ahok said that he had yet to study the proposal thoroughly, but that the amount of investment was lower.
'The investment is lower but it has a bigger passenger capacity,' he said, adding that the Metro Kapsul did not need support pillars.
Ahok went on to say that he would consider the possibility of having the new consortium replace PT Jakarta Monorail, whose plan to resume the project has been in limbo due to administrative issues.
'Wait one week. We are looking at [the possibility],' he said.
Previously, the city administration added a new clause to its contract with the company, demanding that PT Jakarta Monorail pay up to 5 percent of the total investment value of US$1.5 million in performance bonds, which would be taken by the city if the company failed to complete the project within three years.
The company requested that the figure be reduced to between 0.5 percent and 1 percent.
Additionally, the company has yet to resolve a dispute with state-owned PT Adhi Karya, which is contracted to build the monorail's support pillars.
Between 2004 and 2007, Adhi Karya built rows of pillars along roads in Senayan, Central Jakarta, and Kuningan, South Jakarta, where they can still be seen in half-completed form.
The pillars were part of the planned first phase of a 14.3-kilometer line connecting Kuningan and Semanggi in Central Jakarta. The construction stalled, however, after as PT Jakarta Monorail failed to pay Adhi Karya for the work.
Earlier, Adhi Karya had appointed a public auditor to assess the value of the support pillars.
The auditor announced that the pillars were worth Rp 193.66 billion ($17 million) as of Jan. 31, far above the Rp 130 billion PT Jakarta Monorail had initially offered to pay based on an evaluation conducted by the Development Finance Comptroller (BPKP).
PT Jakarta Monorail president director John Aryananda said that the company would wait for the latest assessment result from the BPKP.
The company had originally proposed building two lines. The Green Line would serve Kuningan-Kuningan Sentral-Gatot Subroto-Senayan-Asia Afrika-Pejompongan-Karet-Dukuh Atas-Kuningan. The Blue Line would serve Kampung Melayu-Tebet-Kuningan-Casablanca-Tanah Abang-Roxy-Taman Anggrek.
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