Jokowi Instructs Jakarta Governor to Develop MRT Jakarta East-West Route

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo instructed the Acting Governor of Jakarta Heru Budi Hartono to develop MRT Jakarta East-West Route using a similar scheme to the MRT North-South Route.

Heru claimed the development and operation of the MRT North-South Route was a rousing success. "Considering that the development of railways transportation should parallel the development of Greater Jakarta, we need to ensure the development of the MRT East-West Route," he said in Jakarta, on Monday, August 7, 2023, as quoted from Antara.

He relayed this information while receiving the Basic Engineering Design (BED) for the Phase 1 Step 1 development of the MRT East-West Route from the Transportation Ministry.

Currently, MRT North-South Route has operated along 16 kilometers from Lebak Bulus to Bundaran HI, servicing around 100,000 passengers each day.

Besides MRT operation, Jakarta also mandated PT MRT to maintain and develop a Transit Oriented Development for the MRT North-South Route.

"We hope that this Phase 3 development of MRT Jakarta could encourage the development of railways transportation beneficial to Greater Jakarta residents," said Heru in his written statement.

MRT East-West Route is the initiative between the Transportation Ministry and the Jakarta Provincial Government as an expansion of MRT North-South Route.

During Phase 1 Step 1, the development will include routes from Tomang to Medan Satria. Overall, the routes will stretch along Balaraja in Tangerang to Cikarang for 90 kilometers.

Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi hopes that the government of Jakarta will soon appoint the institution to handle the MRT East-West Route development. "Hopefully, the groundbreaking could start in August 2024," Minister Budi said.

ANTARA

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