nly days after being rebuked for breaking his promise to not carry out forced evictions in Jakarta, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo visited the sites of the city’s two major projects: the mass rapid transit (MRT) and the light rapid transit (LRT).
When Jokowi served as Jakarta governor with his successor, Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaha Purnama, as his deputy, the president promised he would speed up the construction of crucial infrastructure projects, including the MRT, that could address the city’s traffic congestion.
On Friday, Jokowi, who once argued that his decision to run for president was to boost coordination between the city administration and the central government, praised the work of his former deputy.
Accompanied by Ahok, Jokowi said the development of the MRT and LRT projects was “very good”, but added that what mattered was to have them completed on time.
The MRT project, the groundbreaking ceremony of which was led by then governor Jokowi in 2013, a year before he was elected president, is divided into underground and elevated sections.
The first phase of MRT construction will have Lebak Bulus station and depot on 31 plots of land in South Jakarta in the vicinity of Jl. Fatmawati, Jl. Haji Nawi and Jl. Cipete. The city’s first rail-based project in recent years is expected to start operations in 2019. Based on the company’s latest data, 65 percent of the underground construction for the route between Senayan in South Jakarta and the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in Central Jakarta has been completed.
“I can say InsyaAllah [God willing], the Hotel Indonesia to Lebak Bulus route can be completed in 2019,” Jokowi told reporters after he inspected the project’s underground tunnel in Dukuh Atas, South Jakarta.
The US$1.7 billion MRT project with a capacity of 153,000 people is claimed to be able to deliver passengers from one end to the other in less than 30 minutes.
However, land procurement by the city administration was considered among the project’s biggest challenges with talks still being held with land owners affected by the project.
Besides the MRT, Jokowi also praised the LRT project, which was initially hampered by disagreements between the central government and the city administration. As it is being prepared to accommodate the 2018 Asian Games, the project is going to start soon as city-owned Jakarta Propertindo (Jakpro) will announce the tender winner in October.
The Jakarta administration is expected to build 123.7 kilometers of intra-city LRT lines, which will be integrated with 142 km of LRT lines to be built by the Transportation Ministry from the capital to other regions in West Java.
However, in the initial phase, the administration plans to set 83 km of LRT lines serving nine corridors. The routes that have been named as a priority will connect the Asian Games’ venues.
Despite ongoing discussions with land owners, Governor Ahok emphasized there was no doubt that the contract would be signed on Oct. 17. “I am also confident that the first LRT route will be ready in 2018,” he said.
Jokowi became a target of criticism after Ahok evicted the people living in the Ciliwung River banks in Bukit Duri, South Jakarta, on Wednesday, as Jokowi had promised he would not evict them. Ahok argued the eviction was necessary as the residents occupied the land illegally, a claim that has been strongly rejected by the evictees and several human rights groups.
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