JAKARTA. State-owned railway operator PT Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI) has finally secured a Rp 2 trillion (US$150.2 million) capital injection (PMN) from the state to fund the construction of a light rail transit (LRT) system in Greater Jakarta.
On Wednesday evening, the House of Representatives approved of the additional injection to be sourced from the 2017 revised budget, as well as the reallocation of a similar type of funds the firm obtained in 2015 for the LRT project.
Earlier, the latter was allocated for KAI’s trans-Sumatra railway project.
“(Now) we can start processing (the loan) from the banks, so the project won’t stop,” KAI president director Edi Sukmoro said after the meeting.
To fund the Rp 27.5 trillion project, the railway firm required an estimated Rp 9 trillion in equity from the state to allow it access to a Rp 18.5 trillion syndicated loan from the banks.
With the newly approved injection, it has so far gained Rp 4 trillion in equity. Furthermore, it has obtained another Rp 1.4 trillion from the capital injection funneled into state-owned construction firm PT Adhi Karya, which is building the LRT.
The LRT construction is set to run in two phases. The first phase will cover a track from Bogor, West Java, to Jakarta spanning 43.3 kilometers across Cibubur-Cawang, Bekasi Timur-Cawang and Cawang-Dukuh Atas. This initial phase is expected to be complete in 2019.
Meanwhile, the second phase will go through a 38.5-kilometer-long track from Cibubur-Bogor, Dukuh Atas-Palmerah-Senayan to Palmerah-Grogol. (Farida Susanty)
