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ransportation agency head Andri Yansyah revealed his vexation over the lack of coordination between the city administration and the central government in handling giant transportation projects.

'€œTake the LRT [Light Rapid Transit], for example, why do we not ask those who are truly authorized to make decisions on the matter. We have not even finished determining the routes,'€ Andri said in a recent discussion with the Jakarta Transportation Council (DTKJ).

He was referring to two LRT projects, one of which was initiated by the Transportation Ministry and is handled by state-owned developer PT Adhi Karya, and another that was initiated by the city administration and will be handled by city-owned property developer PT Jakarta Propertindo (Jakpro).

Andri said the Transportation Ministry and the city administration disagreed on the routes and the location of the stations. '€œThey have different interests. They argue about whether routes should pass this place or that place,'€ he said.

He added that the two authorities should have integrated their plans, so that more commuters would take public transportation. '€œThey should have just handed over the route planning to the Transportation Ministry and Jakarta'€™s Spatial Planning Agency,'€ he said.

Adhi Karya is set to construct two elevated LRT lanes in Greater Jakarta, while the city administration will build seven routes inside the city.

Jakarta has plans for at least six major transportation projects. Besides the two LRT projects, these comprise the ongoing mass rapid transit (MRT), the airport rail line, the elevated Transjakarta busway system and elevated toll roads.

However, many of the routes of the projects were drawn separately, without planners consulting each other and without a masterplan. Stakeholders are now trying to iron out the problems, including overlapping routes.

One of the salient problems is having three giant projects that connect Jakarta with Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Banten: state-owned railway company PT KAI'€™s two projects '€” the extension of the current Greater Jakarta commuter line from Batu Ceper in Tangerang to the airport and the elevated rail line from Gambir station in Central Jakarta to the airport via Pantai Indah Kapuk (PIK) and Kamal Muara in North Jakarta '€“ and the LRT project connecting Kemayoran in Central Jakarta to the airport.

Other routes that overlap include the controversial six inner elevated toll roads to be built by PT Jakarta Tollroad Development (JTD).

Commenting on the overlapping routes, JTD president director Frans Sunito said recently that it was merely a technical issue and would be discussed later. '€œWe can talk and resolve it,'€ he said.

Even though the routes are not yet fixed, the central government already conducted a groundbreaking ceremony for the LRT project in Taman Mini in East Jakarta on Sept. 10.

While the city administration and the central government are dreaming of big projects, the improvement of existing transportation modes like buses is making little progress.

The year of 2015 ended with a series of deadly accidents involving minibuses, one of which claimed 18 lives.

According to the Organization of Land Transportation Owners (Organda), only 10 percent of the 1,600 buses operated by Metromini are in good condition.

Responding to the accidents, Jakarta Governor Basuki '€œAhok'€ Tjahaja Purnama ordered the Transportation Agency to take off the streets any Metromini buses that were in poor condition or had no proper registration documents.

More than 200 buses have been seized, prompting hundreds of minibus owners to hold a strike.

Meanwhile, another bus company, the Jakarta Transportation Cooperative (Kopaja) has officially joined Transjakarta. Transjakarta recently launched the operation of 320 air-conditioned Kopaja buses to mark the integration of the two public transportation systems. The buses serve as feeders connecting to Transjakarta routes.

DTKJ head Ellen SW Tangkudung admitted that residents could not yet see much improvement in public transportation, but added that the city administration and the government were trying to revamp their efforts on transportation.

'€œThey are now formulating the Greater Jakarta Transportation Plan that will be managed by the Greater Jakarta Transportation Body [BPTJ],'€ she said. BPTJ was formalized by presidential regulation in October.