Groundbreaking Of The Jakarta LRT Velodorme-Manggarai Route, Minister Of Transportation Reminds Intermodal Integration

Minister of Transportation Budi Karya Sumadi inaugurated the groundbreaking for the construction of the 1B phase of the Jakarta LRT with the route from Velodrome Station to Manggarai Station. (Diah Ayu/VOI)

JAKARTA - Minister of Transportation Budi Karya Sumadi inaugurated the groundbreaking for the construction of the 1B phase of the Jakarta LRT with the route from Velodrome Station to Manggarai Station.

On that occasion, Budi reminded the DKI Provincial Government to prepare integration between transportation modes that can be used by the community from each stop station. According to him, intermodal activities must be a careful plan.

"There must be prepared between modes to go elsewhere. I am sure that DKI has financial capacity and DKI has one good record that sets an example throughout Indonesia," said Budi in the LRT Velodrome Station area, East Jakarta, Monday, October 30.

According to Budi, the addition of the Jakarta LRT route will make people switch modes from private vehicles to public transportation, so that the volume of congestion can be reduced.

"I once again appreciate and urge the public to move to mass transportation because with that of course the environment is good and traffic jams and even financial losses will be lost," he explained.

On that occasion, Acting Governor of DKI Jakarta Heru Budi Hartono explained that the 1B phase of the Jakarta LRT would be built with 5 additional 6.4 kilometers of stations.

"The Jakarta Phase 1B LRT has a 4.6 km long track span located at 5 stations, namely Rawamangun Youth Station, BPKP Scout Station, Matraman Station Scout Market Station, and Manggarai Station," said Heru.

When construction begins, the construction of the Jakarta LRT on the Velodrome-Manggarai route will be carried out for 36 months or 3 years.

So far, as many as 6 LRT stations have operated with a length of 5.2 kilometers in phase 1, namely Pegangsaan Dua, North Boulevard Station, South Boulevard Station, Pulomas Station, Equestrian Station, and Velodrome Station.

So, if the 1B phase has been built, the Jakarta LRT has a route length of 12.2 kilometers with 11 stations ranging from Pegangsaan Dua Station to Manggarai Station.

"Later, construction will be carried out and along the 12.2 km route and can be reached for 26 minutes," said Heru.

Today's groundbreaking of the Jakarta LRT was realized after being delayed for about two months from the initial schedule. The DKI Provincial Government initially planned to ground the LRT Phase 1B project on the route in August or September 2023. However, the plan was postponed because the procurement of construction services for the Velodrome-Manggarai route had failed to auction.

Some time ago, the Head of the DKI Jakarta Transportation Agency, Syafrin Liputo, revealed that the tender procurement process had been repeated by inviting bidders who had followed the previous process and determined the winner.

PT Jakarta Propertindo (Jakpro), a BUMD assigned to build an LRT, also had time to wait for the tender-winning company to hand over the project implementation guarantee.

"The tender winner to get a contract must submit an implementation guarantee. Because there is a period of time for the management. Now Jakpro's colleagues are currently in that stage, later after it is submitted, groundbreaking can be carried out," explained Syafrin.

After the winner of the tender handed over the guarantee, said Syafrin, the laying of the first stone could only be done. Syafrin said, based on Jokowi's direction, all development projects must be orderly.

"Because of the President's direction, all legal aspects or administrative requirements must be met, then groundbreaking can be carried out," said Syafrin.