Anies Will Change Jokowi's LRT Track, Criticized By DPRD

Fashion LRT (Photo: lrtjakarta.co.id)

JAKARTA - DKI Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan plans to change one of the designs for the Jakarta LRT route for the Rawamangun-Dukuh Atas Velodrome route. This plan drew criticism from the DPRD.

The route change was included in the explanation of the Transportation Agency on October 22, 2020. Anies will remove the Rawamangun-Dukuh Atas route and design a new route, namely the Velodrome-Klender-Halim.

Anies has also prepared a 32.8 km Pulo Gebang-Joglo route. However, this is left to the private sector through a cooperation scheme between local government and business entities (KPDBU).

This change of route was criticized by the DKI DPRD. Jakarta DPRD PSI faction member Eneng Malianasari said this was Anies' attempt to tackle the national strategic project (PSN) that had been set by President Jokowi.

This is because the Jakarta LRT Route has been regulated in Presidential Regulation (Perpres) Number 55 of 2018 concerning the Jabodetabek Transportation Master Plan for 2018-2029.

"We ask the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government not to tackle the PSN that has been outlined by President Jokowi. Removing the Velodrome-Dukuh Atas route means messing up the route that has been determined by the President and could kill this project," said Eneng in his statement, Monday, November 9.

Apart from that, Gilbert Simanjuntak, a member of the PDIP faction of the DKI DPRD, also criticized the plan to change the LRT route. According to Gilbert, changing this route is considered to be beneficial to the private sector.

"Changing the LRT route makes the DKI Pemprov only get routes on the outskirts of which there are fewer passengers, while the private sector has easy routes to the city center. My question is, Mr. Anies works for the DKI Provincial Government or for the private sector?" grunted Gilbert.

According to Gilbert, if Anies' newly drafted LRT route is handed over to the private sector, the DKI Provincial Government will lose a lot of revenue because transportation integration is given to the private sector. He also predicts that the private sector will ask for tariff subsidies from the DKI Pempov.

"If the private sector manages, how much is the tariff? The tariff price must be affordable for the common people. The economical price of LRT rates is around Rp. 25,000 to Rp. 30,000 per person. I guess, the private sector will ask for tariff subsidies from the DKI Pemprov," he said.