TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama met with State-Owned Enterprises (SOE) Minister Rini Soemarno on Thursday, July 2, 2015, to discuss the superfast train and the light rapid transit (LRT) projects.

"We had just agreed on the LRT project connecting Cibubur-Grogol," Ahok said.

The LRT project serving the Cibubur-Grogol route was predicted to cost Rp 10 trillion (around US$796.2 million) and to be developed by PT Adhi Karya.

Meanwhile, Ahok said that both the Jakarta administration and the SOE Ministry have yet to reach an ageemenr on the superfast train project connecting Jakarta-Bandung. The Jakarta administration was asked to provide land at Halim Perdana Kusuma, East Jakarta. However Ahok said that it would be difficult since the Jakarta administration would have to relocate about 1,200 residents.

In addition, the negotiation reached an impasse since the superfast train project would use wide railway tracks, while the train network in Java Island is currently using the narrow ones.

The request to use wide railway tracks, Ahok said, was related to the type of the train ordered from China.

"Therefore, I offered an alternative to use narrow tracks, and the project location should be moved from Halim to Manggarai," Ahok explained.

RAYMUNDUS RIKANG