Welp, there you have it: those who had been holding on to the faint hope of being able to ride Jakarta’s new railway system, the LRT (light rapid transit) during the Asian Games have officially had their plans derailed after officials announced that the train system won’t be ready in time for the massive regional sporting event.
The LRT project has been beset with numerous delays over the past few years, the latest one seeing the trial run of the trains pushed back to August 10 at the earliest, which is cutting it extremely close to the August 18 Asian Games start date. But August 10 came and went and no trial was conducted, and now officials are saying that the trial will commence on August 15 at the earliest.
Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan on Saturday finally conceded that the LRT won’t be ready to transport athletes or the public during Asian Games.
“It (the LRT) won’t be used for Asian Games activities. It won’t be used,” he told reporters, as quoted by Detik.
Anies added that there’s no longer any pressure to rush the LRT project.
“What’s important is safety, not the date [of operations],” he said.
Earlier this month, former Vice Governor Sandiaga Uno (now vice presidential candidate) claimed that the construction of the first phase of the LRT — connecting Kelapa Gading with the new Velodrome in Rawamangun, East Jakarta — was 100% complete. However the trial run of the trains required before full operations can begin has yet to commence.
The LRT had been one of the Jakarta administration’s most crucial infrastructure projects for the Asian Games as they have always intended it to be ready before the major sporting event. In December, Governor Anies said he was confident that the Kelapa Gading-Velodrome line would at least be operational by July (obviously that didn’t happen) while Transport Minister Budi Karya Sumadi said he was pessimistic that it would be ready for the games at all.
The LRT is funded and constructed in two parts: the lines within Jakarta (including Kelapa Gading-Velodrome) are being built by the Jakarta Provincial Government, while the lines connecting Jakarta to its satellite cities of Depok, Bogor and Bekasi are being built by PT Adhi Karya, a state-owned infrastructure construction firm.
The Jakarta LRT construction began again under former Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo’s term in 2015 following lengthy legal issues with previous tender winners. When completed, the LRT will link up with other rail-based transportation systems like the existing KRL Commuterline and the MRT, the first phase of which is estimated for completion in early 2019.
