T

he supporting poles of the monorail project along Jl. HR Rasuna Said in South Jakarta and Jl. Asia Afrika in Central Jakarta have stood tall since 2004, tarnishing these prominent roads. Unfortunately, the fate of the concrete pillars is now uncertain after Governor Basuki '€œAhok'€ Tjahaja Purnama decided to cancel the city'€™s contract with PT Jakarta Monorail (JM).

That the governor has lost his faith in the company is understandable, the project having gone nowhere since its groundbreaking ceremony 10 years ago under then president Megawati Soekarnoputri. A relaunch in October 2014 by then governor Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo did not accelerate matters, and the city administration is doubtful of the company'€™s ability to finance the project.

It is unfair to solely blame PT JM for the project'€™s halting progress, however; it takes two to tango. The city administration'€™s ambition to build a mass rapid transit (MRT) system has contributed to the failure, and it let the company initiate the project without a supporting financial institution in the first place.

Originally, there were two monorail routes planned '€” a 14.3-kilometer green line, extending from the city police headquarters to Satria Mandala Museum, both in South Jakarta, and a 13.7-kilometer blue line, extending from Kampung Melayu in East Jakarta to Grogol in West Jakarta.

The monorail was one of three transportation projects initiated by then governor Sutiyoso. The two others were the MRT and the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), or busway. Jokowi tried to revive the monorail project which his predecessor, Fauzi Bowo, had suspended, but no progress has been made because of the absence of an agreement on financing between PT JM and the city administration.

The monorail project was problematic from the outset. Banking on support from the city administration, PT JM dared to start constructing the supporting poles. No financial institutions were interested in investing in the project, for fear it was not profitable. Fauzi put the project on ice after the central government refused to issue a letter of guarantee for the construction.

Governor Ahok has called the dozens of supporting pillars '€œa monument to stupidity'€. He must be referring to both the company and the past administration, which approved the project, which was financially unfeasible, without granting clear concessions to the company.

Therefore, if Ahok is to restore the project and open a new tender, he must first comprehensively reassess the project. The first thing he should consider is whether the city really needs a monorail as part of its MRT system.

Learning from the failure of the project, the city administration has to sign a clear agreement with the selected business partner. The deal should include details about distribution of responsibilities: who does what, who gets what and, above all, what concessions are offered to the company to make the project financially viable.

The project should teach the city administration a lesson so as to avoid repetition of such ignorance in the future.