Central MRT station not ready until 2012
Andreas D. Arditya. The Jakarta Post, Jakarta - 06/04/2011
Land acquisition problems have prompted the city administration to delay the construction of the main station for Jakarta’s first mass rapid transit system in South Jakarta.
The Jakarta Development Planning Board (Bapedda) said the project would not kick off until next year.
Earlier, the administration said construction for the project could start later this year after the demolition of the Lebak Bulus Stadium.
Bapedda head Sarwo Handayani said Tuesday the stadium operator had agreed to turn over the land occupied by the stadium.
“However, the construction will have to wait because we have not found a new location for the new stadium,” Handayani said.
She said the city had not allocated funds for the construction of a new stadium.
Earlier this year, the Jakarta Youth and Sports Agency laid out several conditions for the new stadium, insisting that its construction not compromise future city planning, not be subject of a legal disputes and that the stadium be accessible.
The agency is considering converting a golf course in Fatmawati, South Jakarta, to house the new stadium.
The administration decided to tear down the stadium after a change in the initial design of the MRT project, which now covers 1 hectare, up from a previous estimate of 7,000 square meters, in Lebak Bulus.
Handayani said the city had begun buying land for the first stage of construction on the MRT project.
“We need to purchase 282 plots of land for the initial construction. We have allocated a total of Rp 580 billion [US$66.9 million] for the acquisition,” she said.
Governor Fauzi Bowo said he was upbeat the MRT project would proceed as scheduled, despite several problems.
Fauzi said the basic engineering design for the project was complete and the city would soon hold an international tender for technical assistance and management services for the project.
“These two steps will make it possible to start construction in 2011 and operation by 2016,” he said.
Work on the first phase of the 15.5-kilometer MRT project will link Lebak Bulus in South Jakarta and the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in Central Jakarta.
The route will have six underground and seven above-ground stations. Five kilometers of the track will run underground.