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lthough city-owned bus operator PT Transportasi Jakarta (Transjakarta) no longer supports the purchase of buses from China, state-owned bus company Perum PPD, one of the operators of the Transjakarta Bus Rapid System (BRT), has announced it is procuring 59 Chinese-made buses of the Zhong Tong brand.

Transjakarta lost its taste for Chinese buses because they frequently caught fire and because in 2014 dozens of supposedly new buses arrived in Jakarta from China in damaged and faulty conditions.

PPD president director Pande Putu Yasa, however, argued that this latest procurement was a result of a contract made in 2013 before Transjakarta decided against buying any more buses made by Chinese manufacturers.

“Due to financial issues, we just completed the procurement process recently,” he said.

He added that the buses were to serve the Corridor I route connecting Blok M in South Jakarta with Kota in West Jakarta.

“Five of the new buses are already in our pool. Twenty-three are now in Tanjung Priok port,” he said, adding that the new buses would begin operating in January next year.

In 2013, Chinese buses used by Transjakarta gained attention because of alleged graft surrounding their procurement.

The city administration halted the process of procuring hundreds of BRT and feeder buses worth a total of Rp 1 trillion (US$75 million) in 2014 after finding some irregularities in the buses.

In 2015, dozens of fire-related accidents occurred on BRT buses. Transjakarta decided thereafter that it would purchase European brands like Scania and Mercedes Benz, as well as the Japanese Hino.

The latest accident occurred in Cawang, East Jakarta, on Nov. 30 when a Chinese-made Ankai bus caught fire because of an electrical short circuit.

Transjakarta subsequently took 30 Ankai buses off the road.

Pande claimed the new Zhong Tong buses would have better safety standards and quality.

“They will have a system that can automatically cool down the engine if it becomes too hot,” he said.

He said the buses were also powered by South Korean Doosan Infracore engines and had gearboxes made in Germany.

Transjakarta president director Budi Kaliwono said PPD’s 2013 procurement contract for the buses was one of two such contracts that were still active.

“I do not want to use the [Chinese] buses, but we have to comply with the contract,” he said, adding that he would face legal punishment should he terminate it unilaterally.

“I can promise you [the new Chinese buses] would be the last ones,” he said.

Budi said he would improve the contracts for future procurements. “We will add more requirements in the contracts to ensure safety,” he said.

Meanwhile, PPD is also facing punishment following its decision to rent out 20 of its Transjakarta buses for political activities during Car Free Day on Sunday.

Budi said he would fine PPD. “I am still calculating the total amount of the fine, but it would be from Rp 50 million to Rp 100 million,” he said.

Besides the Zhong Tong and Ankai vehicles, Transjakarta has also been operating buses made by Chinese producer Yutong.