W

ith less than two years before the opening of the 2018 Asian Games (Asiad), city-owned property developer PT Jakarta Propertindo is pulling out all the stops to complete the necessary infrastructure projects.

Jakpro, which usually focuses on property, has been assigned by the city administration to organize the building and revamping of important venues for the Asiad.

They comprise the velodrome sports complex in Rawamangun in East Jakarta, the equestrian center in Pulomas, East Jakarta, as well as the Light Rapid Transit (LRT) system connecting its depot in Kelapa Gading to several venues, including the velodrome and the Britama Sports Hall in North Jakarta. The company was tasked with the work at the last minute, relatively speaking, as hosts normally have five years to prepare for the tournament.

Newly appointed Jakarta Propertindo (Jakpro) president director Satya Heragandhi said during a press briefing on the velodrome reconstruction project on Wednesday that the company would rush the project because of limited time.

“Building a velodrome, for example, normally takes around 36-48 months but we have only 24 months,” he said. He said he hoped the groundbreaking could be done in June, so the project could finish in June 2018, two months ahead of the opening ceremony in August.

Jakarta was selected as the host after Vietnam withdrew from the position in 2014. However, neither the central government nor the city administration did much for a year beyond arguing over venues and the division of responsibility.

The central government eventually appointed the Public Works and Public Housing Ministry to revamp the Senayan Sports Complex and build an athletes’ village in Kemayoran, both in Central Jakarta.

Those tasks had previously been delegated to the Youth and Sports Ministry and the city administration, respectively. Meanwhile, the city administration appointed Jakpro to take charge of revamping other venues.

Satya said the other two facilities — the equestrian center and the LRT — were also in progress. “We are now waiting for the Equestrian Federation of Indonesia [EFI] to approve the company’s design.”

Regarding the 6-kilometer LRT project, he said the company also awaited a presidential regulation officially allowing Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama to assign the project to Jakpro and its partners.

“Without the regulation, our hands are tied as it will take a long time if we need to conduct a tender for state-owned companies,” he said.

President Joko ”Jokowi” Widodo had issued a presidential regulation on the LRT but it was only open to state-owned companies.

Olly Watts, the project director of construction company London-based ES Global that has been given the velodrome project, said his company was now finalizing the design by involving various stakeholders.

“The construction will start immediately and it will take around 24 months,” he said, adding that the project would cost US$40 million.

The initial cost of the project was $30 million but it increased as certain materials had to be imported to meet the standards and requirements of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI).

“We need to import timber from Siberia for the velodrome,” he said.

Watts said that although the time was limited, he was confident that the company could complete the project on time and follow all the requirements of the UCI.

Richard Coulson of Australian firm COX Architecture, designer of the velodrome, said the venue would comply with all requirements of the UCI and international standards.

He said the building would use a membrane that would allow sunlight to enter the building, so it did not need artificial lighting at noon.

“The membrane will also disperse the light at night, so the building will be glowing,” he said. He added that the venue would also be flexible, so it could be still used by the public after the event for other sports like badminton, wrestling and futsal.