Abandoned monorail lines to be used for city MRT
Written by Gunboy on Saturday, November 29th, 2008
Abandoned monorail lines to be used for city MRT
The city administration will use the abandoned monorail routes for its mass rapid transit (MRT) network.
The east-west route is the monorail’s blue line, which will link Kampung Melayu in East Jakarta to Roxy in West Jakarta.
The administration is proposing the new route to the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the MRT project advisor, in December.
Governor Fauzi Bowo on Tuesday said a team of JICA experts would arrive in December to review the feasibility study for the North-South route, which spanned from Kota in West Jakarta to Lebak Bulus in South Jakarta.
“The East route will link Kampung Melayu, Kali Malang and the planned bus terminal in Pulo Gebang, while the West route will probably link Kebon Jeruk and Tomang. The routes will meet at around Wisma Dharmala, Karet,” Fauzi said.
The stalled monorail project was planned with two routes, the green line and the blue line. PT Jakarta Monorail built some of the infrastructure required for the green line through South Jakarta’s Kuningan business district and along Jl. Sudirman to Tanah Abang in Central Jakarta.
The blue line was not built.
“We will make some changes to the blue line,” Fauzi said. “The MRT will go underground under Jl. Prof. Dr. Satrio in Casablanca, South Jakarta, and come up aboveground at Jl. Lapangan Ros, Tebet,” Fauzi said.
Bambang Susantono from the Indonesian Transportation Society said the city administration should review all urban transportation before replacing one public transportation mode with another.
“We are also reviewing the Study on Integrated Transportation Master Plan (Sitramp) from now until next year to see if one of the busway corridors is suitable for a monorail, light train or subway. We must study commuter patterns,” he said.
The MRT project, managed by both the central government and the Jakarta administration, is expected to be completed in 2014.
Fauzi said the second phase loan agreement, which amounts to US$450 million, for the MRT project would take place in March 2009. The first phase of the loan was only US$17 million.
PT Mass Rapid Transit Jakarta (MRTJ) president director Eddi Santosa said his company had only received Rp 63 billion from the first phase loan agreement, while the remaining Rp 100 billion went to the city transportation department for design and engineering.
MRTJ has received Rp 49.5 billion from the city administration and Rp 500 million from traditional market operator PD Pasar Jaya.
The North-South MRT project will be implemented in two phases. The first phase consists of feasibility studies, the formation of MRTJ and the construction of a 14.3-kilometer line from Lebak Bulus to Dukuh Atas, Central Jakarta.
The second phase of development is construction of the line from Dukuh Atas to Kota.
Tifa Asrianti , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Wed, 11/26/2008 10:53 AM | City
