Wednesday, 3 July 2013

HOUSING GROWTH NOT ACCOMPANIED WITH PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION FACILITY



If growth of residential areas was not accompanied with availability of mass transportation facilities it will be cause traffic congestion not only in Jakarta, but also in Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi (Greater Jakarta area). Developers had been focusing on housing development in Greater Jakarta area, but they did not pay attention to mass transportation facilities. A synergy between regional government and developers is necessary to prevent traffic congestion.
               
Suroyo Alimoeso, Director General of Land Transportation gave an illustration of demand of travel by all land transportation modes in Greater Jakarta area. Based on data of Greater Jakarta Public Transportation Implementation Strategy (Japtrapis), in 2010 demand for travel by land transportation in Greater Jakarta reached 53 million travels per day. While, daily travel of provincial agencies of some buffer regions to DKI Jakarta reached 7.7 million travels per day.
               
Land-based transportation in Greater Jakarta had been facing problem since 1980. For example, land-based public transportation served by private and state-owned enterprises not yet met expectation. Private enterprises were stronger in facing competition because approximately 80% of their transportation facilities are for commercial purpose, and the remaining are low-cost transportation. Transportation served by state-owned enterprises, such as Perusahaan Pengangkut Djakarta (PPD), is less competitive that the one owned by private enterprises as it is mostly oriented toward low-cost transportation.
               
In the master plan for land-based public transportation in Greater Jakarta applied until 2020, the Directorate General of Land Transportation proposed 30 busway   routes and 15 feeder transportation routes. With demand that could reach 738 units of articulated buses with projection of passengers transportation at 2.7 million units per day. While, construction of supporting infrastructures for land-based transportation consist of construction of busway corridors, park and ride facility, integration of inter-mode transportation, and passersby and bicycles. But, he did not mentioned about the budget requirement of the land-based transportation developers.
               
There was a different opinion from L. Danny Siahaan, Acting Head of Development and Research at the Ministry of Transportation, stating that development of land and railway-based public transportation in Greater Jakarta must pay attention to public demand. The masterplan must be adjusted to supply and demand sides. Therefore, public transportation must be accompanied with construction of public facilities, such as offices, educational centers, and shopping centers to attract people to reside in Suburban areas.
               
According to him, development of public facilities in some buffer areas will prevent traffic congestion in the cities. Therefore, development of mass transportation and public facilities should be done with the involvement of the government and residential area developers to solve traffic problem.
               
The government has made a masterplan for land-based transportation in Greater Jakarta to be operated from 2014 to 2020 for busway on 17 routes to be operated by the central government, then feeded buses on 10 routes to be operated by the central government. While, regarding demand for articulated buses, 738 units are required and demand for 169 units of feeder buses are to be provided by the central government.
               
Besides the government, private investors were encouraged to engage in land-based mass transportation project in Greater Jakarta Area with a total fund requirement of Rp.300 trillion up to 2020. From this amount, for demand for railway project of 585 km length the government needed fund of Rp.108 trillion and state-owned and private enterprises Rp. 191 trillion. Procurement of railway-based transportation project covers a quite large interest. This condition was also open for regional governments in Greater Jakarta area who will invite foreign investors to develop this project. (E)


Business News - March 13,2013

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