The section facing possible postponement is the 1.8 kilometer underground tunnel connecting Harmoni to Mangga Besar in Central Jakarta. It is part of the 6.3 km second phase of the Jakarta MRT that, if completed, will stretch from the Hotel Indonesia (HI) traffic circle in Central Jakarta to Kota in West Jakarta.

The second phase of construction consists of several contracts, including the ongoing construction of a 2.8 km tunnel from the HI traffic circle to the National Monument (Monas) in Central Jakarta called CP201. It extends the first phase of the subway service stretching 15.7 km from Lebak Bulus in South Jakarta to the HI traffic circle, which was launched in March of last year.

The second contractual section is called CP202 and will run from Harmoni to Mangga Besar followed by CP203 from Glodok to the final station in Kota. Other contracts include the construction of railway systems and track work (CP205) and the procurement of the MRT trains themselves (CP206).

The second phase of development, which is to be fully underground, is funded by a loan from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Under the scheme, only Japanese companies are eligible to be the main contractors in the projects.

City-owned transportation company PT MRT Jakarta president director William Sabandar said the project might be postponed as no Japanese firms had submitted proposals for the CP202 and CP205 contracts despite the tender being open for a year. Furthermore, none had shown any interest in supplying trains.

The Harmoni and Mangga Besar stations are expected to be 30 meters below ground as they will be located under the Batang Hari River. The route for the underground tunnel passes many major facilities and faces land subsidence issues, which are considered construction challenges.

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