J

akarta Governor Joko “Jokowi” Widodo is asking two consortiums — one of mostly private institutions and the other of all state-owned companies — to combine their bids to revive the city’s monorail project.

The governor invited representatives of both consortiums in a meeting at City Hall on Friday morning. “Both are asked to join in a single consortium, so the monorail construction can be continued immediately,” he said.

“A single consortium would make it easier for the project to be continued. It’s better than having multiple consortiums, because the project is going nowhere,” the governor said.

One of the consortiums is PT Jakarta Monorail (JM), which was responsible for the failed monorail construction project that was started in 2005. Work was halted in March 2008 due to legal and financial problems.

The private consortium is made up of a number of foreign and local construction companies and financial institutions. JM claimed that most of the consortium members had now changed, leaving only a fraction of its original lineup.

The other consortium is led by state-owned construction firm PT Adhi Karya, which is collaborating with state toll road operator PT Jasa Marga, state electricity firm PT PLN, state-owned PT Bank Mandiri, state train builder PT Inka, electronic components maker PT LEN Industry and state-owned telecommunications firm PT Telkom.

Adhi Karya used to hold a 7.5 percent stake in JM.

“I’m giving you a week to talk this through. I need the monorail work continued and I want you on the same team,” Jokowi told the consortiums.

Adhi Karya president director Kiswodarmawan said that his consortium did not want to join with the private one.

“The state companies in our consortium have decided to not collaborate with private companies. It’s up to the Jakarta administration to decide; we will accept whatever decision it makes,” said Kiswodarmawan in response to Jokowi’s request.

Kiswodarmawan also said that Adhi Karya had tried to work with JM in the past but nothing came of the cooperation. “We will not do it again,” he said.

A different view came from JM chief commissioner Syaiful Imam, who said if the two consortiums joined, they could assure themselves of funding.

“We agree to collaborate. It would be better to guarantee the continuation of the project,” said Syaiful, who is a former director at Adhi Karya. JM claimed that it could start the project within less than a year and a monorail route would be operational in 2016 with a price tag of US$24.18 million per kilometer.

The first line of the JM monorail project was planned as a 14.3-kilometer route connecting Semanggi and Kuningan in South Jakarta.

The initial construction by JM left rows of columns along the roads in Senayan, Central Jakarta, and Kuningan in South Jakarta.

JM demanded Rp 600 billion ($62.3 million) in compensation from the city administration. The city refused, saying it received a recommendation from the Development Finance Comptroller (BPKP) to pay a maximum Rp 204 billion.

Jokowi’s predecessor, Fauzi Bowo, said that the city would find alternate public transportation options that could accommodate more people than the monorail.

Earlier this year, Adhi Karya offered to build its own version of monorail network, the first phase of which was estimated to cost around Rp 12 trillion.