A Jakarta light rail transit (LRT) attendant stands inside a train at Velodrome Station in Rawamangun, East Jakarta, ready to welcome passengers after the rail service reopened with a limited capacity of 30 passengers per car. - The Jakarta Post File
JAKARTA: The Transportation Ministry has revealed that the early stage of Bali’s first underground light rail transit (LRT) project, dubbed Phase 1A, is expected to cost an estimated US$876 million.
Railway Traffic and Transportation Director Arif Anwar said Phase 1A would involve constructing a 6.04-kilometer track from I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport in Denpasar to Jl. Sunset Road in Kuta, Badung regency, as well as five stations.
Arif explained that building an underground LRT was decided, considering that most areas along the planned route were densely populated and could give rise to several hurdles it was built overground.
“Land acquisition was also a consideration [...],” Arif said on Thursday (June 6), as quoted by Bisnis.com.
Residents and tourists have faced congestion for years in the island province, with one of the worst snarls occurring recently during the year-end holidays in 2023, particularly on roads leading to the airport.
The government has blamed the condition on narrow roads and motorists parking illegally on them, combined with the high volume of vehicles.
Bali also lacks a comprehensive public transportation network, with services patchy in some areas and slow in others.
Only around 30 percent of people in the province used public transportation regularly, Detik.com reported last November.
Arif said the LRT’s construction would depend on the readiness of the Bali administration’s plans, as well as the project’s tenders.
Besides securing funding, much paperwork was needed to kick-start the project, in particular its basic engineering design (BED) and detailed engineering design (DED), environmental impact analysis (Amdal) and land acquisition and resettlement action plan (LARAP), he added.
The Bali LRT is part of the larger Bali Urban Railway project, which aims to improve public transit on the island.
The Bali Urban Railway is tendered on a business-to-business (B2B) basis, and is set for expansion by extending the Bali LRT or by introducing other transit services.
The Bali administration is in charge of the development project, which is part of the region’s rail network.
"We from the central government provide technical assistance during the planning process. Then, if the Bali governor makes a proposal for this LRT, the route must also receive a recommendation from the Transportation Ministry before it is approved by the Bali governor," Arif said.
PT Sarana Bali Dwipa Jaya (SBDJ), which has been appointed by the Bali administration to manage the Bali Urban Railway development project, said it could cost as much as $20 billion, citing a rough estimate from one investor that has submitted a tender proposal.
SBDJ president director Ari Askhara, a former CEO of flag carrier Garuda Indonesia, said on Thursday that the estimate also included a transit-oriented development (TOD) along the rail network, Bisnis.com reported.
To date, three consortiums have expressed interest in the project and submitted a request for qualification (RFQ).
Among them are PT Bumi Indah Prima, which has partnered with a Chinese company, France’s RATP Group and Germany’s Siemens Group. - The Jakarta Post/ANN
