"We hope the soft launch of the LRT on August 17 would be a gift for the country," he noted during his visit to the Jabodetabek LRT Depot in East Bekasi, Friday.
During the brief visit, Pandjaitan was accompanied by Minister of Transportation Budi Karya Sumadi, Deputy Minister of State-Owned Enterprises Kartika Wirjoatmodjo, representatives from the Ministry of Finance, as well as SOEs involved in the project: KAI, Adhi Karya, INKA, and LEN.
Pandjaitan ensured that the Jabodetabek LRT construction project was going well. Despite a collision incident in October 2021, the minister noted that it was natural for such occurrences to take place during trials.
"I think the small incident is normal during the trial. However, we have perfected the software, and it is going well," he stated.
The minister also confirmed that no problems and obstacles were found during the completion of the mass transportation mode, in terms of finance, technology, and construction.
"I did not see any problems. At that time, it was the most difficult for us to manage this land acquisition. Now, thank God, it is completed," Pandjaitan remarked.
Based on the schedule, the minister stated that the Jabodetabek LRT would become fully operational in September 2022. Later, the Jabodetabek LRT will be integrated with other transportation modes.
Related news: PT KAI lays out Jabodebek LRT operational plans
"That way, we build a really sophisticated intermodal transportation system. In the past few years, it has become our work to make it integrated," the minister affirmed.
Based on the records of the Directorate General of Railways of the Ministry of Transportation, as of March 25, 2022, the work to construct phase 1 of the Jabodetabek LRT had reached 90.2-percent completion. In detail, work on the Cawang-Cibubur track was 94.6-percent complete, the Cawang-Dukuh Atas route was 89.6-percent complete, while work on the Cawang-Bekasi Timur track was 87.6-percent complete.
Related news: KAI targets Jabodebek LRT to become operational in August 2022
Translator: Ade Irma J, Resinta S
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
Copyright © ANTARA 2022
