Jakarta MRT Project Phase 2 Is Threatened With Retirement, COVID-19 Is One Of The Impacts

MRT / DOK. Irfan Meidianto (VOI)

JAKARTA - President Director of PT MRT Jakarta (Perseroda) William Sabandar revealed that the construction of MRT Jakarta phase 2 is in danger of experiencing a setback due to several obstacles that have occurred in the construction of the contract package.

"There are obstacles to the procurement of the CP202, CP205, and CP206 contract packages. One of the causes is the COVID-19 pandemic that is currently hitting the high risk for the entire MRT Jakarta Phase 2 project," William Sabandar said in a written statement quoted by Antara, Sunday, October 18th.

William said that the finding of obstacles for CP 202 in the construction of the Harmoni-Mangga Besar Station had resulted in the national strategic project being delayed until mid-2027.

The problem with CP 202 is that the bidders (contractors) for the project work ask for a longer project completion time. Because apart from COVID-19, the evaluation also found a high risk of construction in the field.

Furthermore, the second obstacle was found for the CP 205 project related to railways and rails. The bidders asked for an extension of time due to the issue of policies on the use of certain communication products that the Japanese contractor could not provide and the latest obstacle found was that the bidders saw the risk of interfacing (overlapping) between the work of the civilian package and the package of the railway system.

However, PT MRT Jakarta (Perseroda) decided on the date of submission of the CP205 offer on October 26, 2020 and has requested confirmation of the willingness of the auction participants to submit their bids on that date.

Some of the auction participants have confirmed today to try their best to submit bids on October 26, 2020.

"We ask for full commitment and realization from the Bidder to be able to submit bids within the predetermined time limit," said William.

The last obstacle for the CP 206 is that although they have often been promoted to Japanese contractors for the procurement of trains at MRT Jakarta phase 2, there is no interest from Japanese contractors to be involved in the CP206 project. =

"This condition occurs because the construction of MRT Phase 2 is financed by the JICA ODA Loan with the Special Terms for Economic Partnership (Tied Loan) scheme so that it is closely tied to the criteria that the Main Contractor must come from Japan. However, it turns out that the Japanese Contractor is too conservative and not ready to take development risks in the Phase 2 area, "William said.

Therefore, William hopes that the Japanese Government, through JICA, can encourage contractors for the rolling stock sector to be involved in the construction of MRT phase 2.

"If the interest of industrial players in Japan is lacking, the procurement option involving other international contractors from outside Japan can be opened and agreed upon by the Indonesian government and the Japanese government," William said.

To note, at this time the construction of the MRT Jakarta phase 2 has begun to be carried out through CP201 to procure the Thamrin Station and Monas Station which have been completed as much as 8.3 percent.