T

he city administration and business operators are gearing up to bid farewell to 2014 and welcome 2015 by preparing a number of special events for the countdown.

The Jakarta Culture and Tourism Agency will host the annual Jakarta Night Festival along Jl. Sudirman and Jl. MH Thamrin on Wednesday evening. More than 100 performers will take to 12 stages in different locations.

Agency head Arie Budhiman said the stages would be constructed starting from the National Monument (Monas) area to Dukuh Atas in Central Jakarta.

'€œWe will arrange the stages so it does not disrupt the MRT [mass rapid transit] construction project on these thoroughfares,'€ he said in Jakarta.

Arie added that the Jakarta Night Festival would also feature small and medium enterprises that would display their products in designated tents. The agency has set aside Rp 1 billion (US$80,450.6) for the event.

The celebrations will also be held at different locations, including at Taman Impian Jaya Ancol theme park in North Jakarta, Taman Mini Indonesia Indah (TMII) cultural park in East Jakarta and the Old Town in West Jakarta.

Prior to Dec. 31, the agency had issued at least 134 permits to hospitality business operators across the capital to hold events on the last night of 2014.

TMII operational director Ade F. Meliala said the cultural park would host a traditional puppet show to entertain visitors.

'€œThe puppet show will be held all night long, presenting young puppet master Ki Bambang Asmoro,'€ he said as quoted by beritajakarta.com.

More than 150,000 people are expected to welcome 2015 at the park, which is set to brighten the sky with 4,000 fireworks.

Meanwhile, Taman Impian Jaya Ancol spokeswoman Metty Yan Harahap said more than 200,000 visitors were expected to flock to Ancol and join the celebrations.

'€œWe will focus the celebrations on two main stages; at Carnaval beach and Ex Teater Mobil. Meanwhile, the fireworks will be located in three main spots,'€ she said.

Partygoers from Greater Jakarta who rely on public transportation can still take the commuter line as train operator PT Kereta Commuter Jabodetabek (KCJ) will operate trains 24 hours on New Year'€™s Eve.

'€œWe will add 14 trips,'€ KCJ spokeswoman Eva Chairunisa said in a statement.

The additional trips will serve Bogor station in West Java to Kota station in West Jakarta; Bogor to Jatinegara in East Jakarta; Bekasi to Kota; and Parung Panjang in West Java to Tanah Abang in Central Jakarta.

Eva said the additional trips would start from Bogor at 10 p.m. on Wednesday night and end at 3:26 a.m. at the same station on Thursday.

The train usually operates from 4:30 a.m. to 0:25 a.m.

Meanwhile, Transjakarta will operate as usual on New Year'€™s Eve.