Lenny Tristia Tambun, Jakarta Globe, 7 Oct 13;
In anticipation of the wave of new vehicles that are expected to hit the capital following the government’s low-cost green car (LCGC) policy, the Jakarta administration is aiming to beef up its public transportation fleet with 4,000 additional buses, a city official said on Monday.
Udar Pristono, head of the Jakarta city transportation agency, said that his office will adopt two strategies to prepare for the possible flood of new vehicles.
“We have to do two things to face the LCGC policy… the plan is to strengthen public transportation and enforce the law by weeding out unworthy public [transport] vehicles,” he said.
Udar said that the city will aim to include the 4,000 buses on the 2014 city budget.
“The government will expand the TransJakarta fleet by 1,000 buses and boost the number of mid-size buses by 3,000 units,” he said. The 3,000 midsize buses would strengthen the MetroMini and Kopaja fleets.
He said that it was hoped that the purchase of the 4,000 new buses would not have to go through a tender process but instead through an e-catalog, which is being prepared by the Policy Institute for the Provision of Goods and Services (LKPP). Whereas tender processes are subject to negotiation and can take some time, the LKPP would set the prices for the buses transparently and make sure that the buses would be purchased in roughly three months.
“It [the e-catalog] is being processed by the LKPP. We will not go through a tender but will buy [the buses] based on a price list. It will go much faster with this system…” Udar said.
Udar aired hopes that the e-catalog would be able to be completed before the new budget year.
City authorities, he added, will also take pains to limit the use of private vehicles and crack down on illegal parking, but he added that more preparation was needed to implement such measures.
Since June 25, the city has ordered 315 buses off the road and fined 3,464 others.
“We are not trying to kill public transportation. We are guiding MetroMinis and Kopajas, as well as other public transportation vehicles, and pushing the owners to repair or improve their vehicles,” he said.
There are already some 2.5 million cars in the capital, with some 1.1 million vehicles sold last year. This year’s numbers are expected to remain flat.
The Industry Ministry said that under the LCGC policy, some 30,000 low-emission cars would roll off the assembly lines this year, accounting for some 3 percent of all vehicles sold in the country. The government plans to increase production by 10 percent next year.
