Surabaya To Develop Railway Transport System

News Focus - SURABAYA TO DEVELOP RAILWAY TRANSPORT SYSTEM By Bustanuddin Jakarta, Jan 21 (ANTARA) - Surabaya, Indonesia`s second largest city after Jakarta, is keen on building a monorail and tram system. Prof Dr Ir Tri Yogi Yuwono, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember`s (ITS) rector, said the city is keen on developing a monorail and tram system. According to him, Surabaya will start developing the monorail and tram system in July 2013. Meanwhile, Surabaya`s mayor, Tri Rismaharini, MT, said the city`s administration will look into an international tender for the monorail and tram project in July this year. ITS will be supervising the project until its completion in 2014. The mayor said technical matters will be handled by the contractor who wins the tender. "ITS has selected a number of experts in the following fields: civil engineering transportation, civil engineering construction management, civil engineering construction/structure, architecture, urban and regional planning (PWK), informatics engineering, electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, product design, and environmental engineering," the rector said. ITS, according to Yogi, is keen to develop the railway transport system to reduce congestion on the roads. In the meantime, the chief of the ITS Center for Transportation and Logistics Studies, Ir Hera Widyastuti, MT and PhD, said ITS will support the monorail program, which will be developed from the western to the eastern part of Surabaya. The tram program will be developed from the northern to the southern part of the city. "We have selected a technical team that comprises experts from several scientific fields. We have selected the assistant rector-II, Ir Muhammad Faqih, MSA and PhD, who is an architecture expert," said Hera, adding that the technical team will help in supervising the project. There are 3 million people in Surabaya, while Jakarta has about 8 million people. Jakarta`s Governor, Joko Widodo, believes it is important to develop the monorail system. There has been a positive response from the state-owned energy company, PT Len Industri. PT Len Industri has expressed its readiness to build the Jakarta Monorail signalling system. "The firm has a subsidiary dealing with transportation affairs, PT Len Railway Systems, which focuses on developing Mass Rapid Transits (MRTs), Light Rail Transits (LRTs) and Monorails," said PT Len Industri�s President Director, Abraham Mose. "The company is trying to evaluate the design and develop the monorail signalling system," he stated. "In the monorail project, PT Len will handle around 15 to 20 percent of the signalling work; the rest will be handled by other companies," Abraham said. Abraham said the price of monorail tickets will not exceed Rp12,000 per ticket. "Hopefully, monorail tickets can be integrated with the TransJakarta Busway and Train`s tickets," he said. Earlier, Governor Joko Widodo (Jokowi) said he will give approval to PT Adhi Karya Tbk to develop the monorail system in the city because funds are not a part of the state budget. "Funds from the national budget can be used for other purposes and not for developing an elevated rail system," he said on October 16. Jokowi hopes that PT Adhi Karya Tbk will invite domestic investors and other state-owned companies to provide funds for the monorail project. "If there are investors who want to provide funds, we should welcome them. However, it will be good if we only rely on domestic investors," he said. Funds for the project will come from a consortium of state-owned companies. Therefore, Jokowi said, importance will be given to state-owned companies. He has also urged PT Adhi Karya and Hutama Karya to present their project proposals. "I am interested in looking at their proposals. We have to understand whether the proposals are efficient and cost-effective," Jokowi pointed out. Meanwhile, Adhi Karya, President Director of Kiswodarmawan, said his company will work closely with state-owned companies and regional government-owned companies to implement the project in two phases. The first phase will start this year. It will be completed by 2015. The second phase will begin in 2015. "The first phase is estimated to cost Rp12 to Rp13 trillion," he added.