Phase two of the MRT project hinges on approval from the State Secretariat, says PT MRT Jakarta.
he second phase of construction for the Jakarta mass rapid transit (MRT) has again been postponed from a revised plan to break ground in January, due to lack of approval from the State Secretariat.
The second phase, which is to build the route connecting the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in Central Jakarta to Kota Station in West Jakarta, had already been pushed back from the initial plan to start work in December 2018.
PT MRT Jakarta president director William Sabandar said the State Secretariat's delayed approval was related to a land use issue concerning Medan Merdeka area in Central Jakarta.
“We are ready to break ground at any time. We have [already] decided on the developer. The ticket to starting this [phase] is the State Secretariat's approval," William said on Wednesday, as quoted by wartakota.tribunnews.com.
William said that another obstacle to commencing phase two was the land acquisition issue surrounding the location of the MRT interchange station, which was originally to be integrated with the Kampung Bandan train station.
He added that the delay had no financial impact for the company.
Aditya Dwilaksana, a member of the Indonesian Transportation Society (MTI)’s railway section, said that the MRT's first and second construction phases, which would connect southern and northern Jakarta, was a national strategic program as stipulated in Presidential Regulation No. 56/2018 on accelerated infrastructure development.
"In the regulation, it is clear that this national strategic program must be accelerated. The [State Secretariat's] approval should be given as soon as possible," said Aditya.
He added said that the government, the Jakarta administration and MRT Jakarta “should immediately decided on the location of the interchange” to eliminate all further obstacles to the project. (ggq)
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