Pramono Disturbed By Mangkrak Monorel Poles, Ahok: Can Be Cut, Given Plants

JAKARTA - Former DKI Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama (Ahok) responded to the existence of a former stalled monorel project pole that was felt to be disturbing the city's aesthetics by DKI Jakarta Governor Pramono Anung.

According to Ahok, the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government can turn the monorail pole along Jalan HR Rasuna Said and Jalan Asia Afrika into a flower planting place or even dismantled.

"It should have been owned by Jakarta. If you have Jakarta, maybe technically it can be cut, maybe. Or given river plants," Ahok told reporters, Thursday, May 22.

This monorel project, which stopped in the middle of the road, has occurred since Ahok led Jakarta for the 2014-2017 period. However, Ahok admitted that he did not know the continuation of the current project legal process.

"I don't know what the legal process is. I don't interfere anymore," said Ahok.

DKI Jakarta Governor Pramono Anung admitted that he began to be disturbed by the stalled monorail poles attached along Jalan HR Rasuna Said and the Senayan area, Central Jakarta. According to him, this destroys the beauty of Jakarta.

Since the monorel project stopped in the middle of the road until now, Jakarta has changed leadership of the governor many times. However, no resolution has been made from the existence of the "bangkai" of the pilepole.

"If all of you pass by Rasuna Said and Senayan. There are columns for monorils that to this day don't want to be resolved," said Pramono at Taman Ismail Marzuki, Central Jakarta, Tuesday, May 20.

"For the Jakarta government, this is very disturbing. So it's not the monorail that continues, but what will the unstable pillars do? Is it cleaned? What is it made?" Pramono continued.

The monorail pole that was allowed to drag on, according to Pramono, occurred because there was a legal case between the implementers of the project, contractors, and related parties. According to him, that was what made the previous government not want to clean up.

However, the former Cabinet Secretary admitted that he would start solving the problem of the existence of a stalled monorail in accordance with existing legal channels.

"Of course there must be a decision for that, it can't be left alone from time to time, because everyone doesn't want to think, doesn't want to be difficult, doesn't want to touch the problem. For me personally, I want to solve it," explained Pramono.

Since several years ago, the pole of the Jakarta monorail project that has stalled along the HR Rasuna Said road and Jalan Asia Afrika has begun to be considered disturbing.

Initially, the construction of this monorail project in Jakarta began in 2004. At that time, the Governor of DKI was still held by Sutiyoso. The DKI Provincial Government is working with PT Jakarta Monorail as the developer or investor of the project.

Many dreams were shared in the Jakarta monorail project. At that time, Sutiyoso planned a monorail to be included in the integration of transportation in DKI, apart from Transjakarta and the MRT development plan.

The failure of the project began after several years of construction. When the monorail pole was held, DKI Governor Fauzi Bowo (who replaced Sutiyoso) stopped this development due to financial problems.

PT Jakarta Monorail asked for compensation to DKI amounting to Rp600 billion rupiah. Foke refused and would only pay according to the recommendations of the Financial and Development Supervisory Agency (BPKP) for a maximum of Rp204 billion. Unfortunately, this does not produce a common ground.

In 2014, former DKI Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama canceled his contract with PT Jakarta Monorail. This resulted in the fate of the poles that had been built being increasingly unclear. Later, the pole assets belonged to PT Adhi Karya as the executor of the construction.

Years have passed, the DKI Provincial Government has yet to decide on a solution to determine the fate of the stalled project pole. The iron pole of the monorail also became the object of theft in 2021.