TransJakarta currently owns 700 buses, of which 400 were in good condition, while the remaining 250 were no longer in good condition and had to be replaced.Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Jakarta government-owned PT Transportasi Jakarta (TransJakarta) has set a target of purchasing 1,300 new buses in 2015, according to the president director of TransJakarta Antonius Steve Kosasih.
Antonius said in the City Hall on Thursday that TransJakarta currently owns 700 buses, of which 400 were in good condition, while the remaining 250 were no longer in good condition and had to be replaced.
"Procurement of new buses is intended to meet the transportation needs of the public," he stated.
He explained that his side will be very careful while procuring the buses to avoid the incident in 2013 being repeated, when the imported buses turned out to be corroded.
TransJakarta, he said, has applied a special approach to avoid the problem from emerging while procuring new buses.
He said that his side will appoint directly the old bus operator in the procurement of the new buses.
"We will appoint directly because in the past parties with whom we did city bus business disappeared when the busway corridors were operated," he added.
Antonius said his office will apply the same standardization to all operators who are interested in procuring the bus fleet.
"The standardization will cover quality and support. We want to buy buses from a trademark agency that has an office, a garage, and spare parts in Jakarta. If need be, it can have a factory here," he said.
In the meantime, the Attorney Generals Office has named three more suspects in a Rp1.5 trillion graft case related to the procurement of articulated buses and single buses for the TransJakarta busway network.
"Investigators have named three new suspects in the TransJakarta case," spokesman for the Attorney Generals Office Tony T Spontana said recently.
The three new suspects, all of them private company executives, are identified by their initials as BS, president director of PT New Armada/PT Mobilindo Armada Cemerlang; AS, president director of PT Ifani Dewi; and CCK, president director of PT Korindo Motors.
The new suspects brings to seven the number of people suspected to be involved in the graft case.
Earlier, the Attorney Generals Office had named four suspects in the case. Two of them are UP, former chief of the Jakarta provincial transportation office; and P, director of the Transportation Technology and System Center at the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT).
The other two are DA, an employee of the Jakarta provincial transportation office in the capacity as commitment-making official; and ST, an employee of the Jakarta provincial transportation office in the capacity as chief of the committee for the procurement of goods and services for construction work at the transportation office.
The three president directors of private companies were named suspects after the investigators had questioned 60 witnesses, including expert witnesses and four other suspects.
He did not rule out the possibility that the number of suspects will increase, depending on the results of investigation into the suspects.
The Attorney Generals Office has not yet detained UP, who has been named a suspect since May 2014.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
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