BANDUNG, May 13 (EngineeringDaily) --The provincial government of Jakarta has announced plans to accelerate studies needed for the East-West corridor of its MRT mega project. The project, with a North-South line already in construction, was originally slated to reach completion in 2027, but with recent developments the finished MRT system should be fully operational before the projected date.

Jakarta’s Deputy Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama said in April that the required surveys should be completed some time later this year, allowing for the construction of the East-West corridor to begin next year.  "The construction of the East-West MRT does not need to wait for the North-South section to be completed first," he said.

According to Basuki, the construction of the East-West line is urgently needed due to the rapidly growing residential areas surrounding the city of Jakarta. This section would stretch about 87 km and connect the satellite cities of Cikarang in the Bekasi Regency to the west of Jakarta and Balaraja in Tangerang Regency to the east.

President Director of PT MRT Jakarta, Dono Boestami, said the East-West MRT study for the Jakarta area is being conducted by the central government, namely by the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas) and Directorate General of Railways of Transportation Ministry. The study includes technical and financial assessments, as well as the design options of elevated or underground construction.

Once the study is completed, construction of the planned transportation can commence. For this project, Jakarta’s provincial government offered the undertaking to members of the private sector. Early in the phases of development, a Japanese firm had assessed the project as non-profitable, so there were few private parties willing to get involved. Finally, the offer was accepted by a private company that previously financed an MRT project, namely the Macquarie Securities Group.

To finance the East-West corridor, Boestami said that the government would explore a number of different schemes. The current funding model in place with the North-South corridor is a foreign loan provided by from International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

However, the provincial government is now considering a public-private partnership (PPP) to finance this project. "We are not bound by the technology of a single country. There are a lot of offers, we will see later which one is the most competitive," said Boestami.

By  Ismail Al Anshori