T

he clock is ticking on the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) project in Jakarta. However, a challenging land acquisition process could potentially delay the city’s first rail-based project in recent years.

In a bid to speed up land acquisition, two agencies at the city administration will concentrate on acquiring 132 plots of land affected by the project.

Bina Marga Agency head Yusmada Faisal said that Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama had ordered his agency and the Transportation Agency to settle the issue by the end of the year as the city administration will have to pay fines and interest payments if the project is delayed.

Bina Marga Agency is in charge of acquiring 102 plots of land that are going to be affected by stations and elevated MRT routes. Most of the land plots are located in South Jakarta including Kebayoran Baru, Cipete, Cilandak and Fatmawati.

“Meanwhile, the Transportation Agency will focus on the other 30 plots of land in Lebak Bulus,” Yusmada said on Friday.

The development of the MRT maintenance depot, which will be able to accommodate 16 trains, has been ongoing in Lebak Bulus since 2015.

The two agencies have allocated a substantial amount of money to acquire the 132 plots of land.

Yusmada said his agency had allocated Rp 250 billion (US$19.3 million) to acquire land with a total area of 7,800 square meters, while the Transportation Agency had allocated Rp 56.84 billion for a total area of 2,298 square meters.

The first phase of the MRT project will connect Lebak Bulus to the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in Central Jakarta, and will include a depot to be used as a maintenance and repair center. It will have underground and elevated sections.

The $1.7 billion MRT project is expected to solve traffic gridlock in the capital as the commuter line will have six underground stations, seven elevated stations and a capacity of 173,000 passengers per day. It is claimed the MRT will deliver passengers from Lebak Bulus to Dukuh Atas in Central Jakarta in less than 30 minutes.

While the project is expected to start operations in 2019, land acquisition remains the biggest issue as many of the land owners have reportedly put high prices on their land plots.

Jakarta Deputy Governor Djarot Saiful Hidayat said recently the owners were demanding between Rp 50 million and Rp 150 million per square meter, while the appraisal system set the land at Rp 26 million per square meter.

MRT Jakarta president director Dono Boestami previously stressed that with the city administration’s large regional budget fund, land acquisition should not be a problem.

On Friday, Ahok, Yusmada and land owners affected by the MRT met at City Hall to try and find a middle ground. During the meeting, Ahok learned that many of the land owners had agreed to sell their land. However, Ahok said uncompleted land documents and “particular individuals trying to take advantage of the project” had slowed down the process.

“Therefore, we invited all of them here so we could identify the issues. We asked each of them to write out their complaints in a form and we will move forward from there,” Ahok said after the meeting.
_________________

“Meanwhile, the Transportation Agency will focus on the other 30 plots of land in Lebak Bulus.”