Tunnellers building Jakarta's first subway have hit the halfway point of the crucial six-kilometre underground section, raising hopes the long-delayed $1.6 billion Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) might actually be completed, in a city that has become a graveyard of failed public transport projects.
Key points:
- Jakarta's congestion is among the worst in the world and costs the country billions every year
- The system is being built with Japanese technology and loans
- The concrete train tunnels float in clay rather than anchored to bedrock
- The first trains should begin rolling on the city's north-south by 2018
Jakarta's commuters were promised a monorail line in 2004 and over the next 10 years hundreds of concrete pylons were erected before the oft-stalled project was finally abandoned two years ago, amid arguments about cost.
A network of bus lanes was also never properly finished, and an above-ground rail line is notoriously dangerous at scores of level crossings.
Earlier this week, just days after a groundbreaking ceremony for a fast train project, Indonesian politicians said work on the Jakarta-Bandung line should stop until paperwork and permissions were finalised.
But the first 16 kilometres of the MRT remains on track to be completed in 2018.
MRT director Dono Boestami said it had been a long time coming.
"The study was done over 25 years ago. We started the groundbreaking in this location in October 2013. If you ask me why it has taken so long I cannot answer," he said.
MRT director says 'it's better late than never'
Jakarta's traffic congestion is among the worst in the world; eight-lane highways are permanently clogged at the exits and long tailbacks build at tollbooths where drivers must stop to pay cash tolls.
A two-hour journey can double in length if it rains.
In this city of 10 million it means deliveries are unreliable, workers are late, and pollution is far worse than it should be.
Dono Boestami said it was costing the country a fortune.
"The economic loss is about 65 trillion rupiah ($AU6.5 billion) per year, if by 2020 Jakarta does not improve its transportation system," he said.
"It's better late than never."
The MRT is being built with Japanese technology and loans from Japan, although the Jakarta government owns the project.
Jakarta sits on one of the most earthquake prone areas in the world - but the concrete train tunnels 'float' in clay rather than being anchored to bedrock.
Dono Boestami said this made them resilient to major quakes.
The first trains should begin rolling on the city's north-south by 2018.
Dono Boestami said he was optimistic the second phase of the project would begin by 2017.
