JAKARTA (TheInsiderStories) - President Joko Widodo expresses his hope that the Manggarai-Soekarno Hatta (Soetta) Airport railway project will begin operation in the first half (H1) of 2017. The land acquisition is expected to be completed in February 2016.
The President said the railway track will be built only along 12 km from existing Batuceper Station to Sukarno-Hatta Airport. According to him, after the railway line is built, it is estimated that the travel time from Manggarai Station in Central Jakarta to Sukarno-Hatta airport can be reached within 40 minutes.
The President admits the travel time from the central Jakarta to the airport via the existing toll road is clocked with traffic jam. He added the government plans to develop similar project in other cities, linking airports and cities.
“Cities need to connect the airports with mass transportation mode, such as Palembang, Surabaya, Padang and Yogyakarta,” he said.
Minister for Transportation Ignatius Jonan explained that of the 12 km railway to be constructed from Batuceper Station to Airport Station, 6 km of which will be constructed on the pot of land belonging to Airport Railway (PT Angkasa Pura II), while the remaining 6 km long of land is acquired from the communities , which large part has been cleared.
According Jonan, the investment value of the project is Rp 2.5 trillion. The type of trains that will be used to serve the airport railway line are similar to the trains that are operated by the Kualanamu - Medan railway.
While, the Minister of Agrarian and Spatial Planning who is also the Head of BPN Ferry Mursyidan Baldan said that land acquisition is still encountering obstacles in Tanah Tinggi area along 1 km, but it has been resolved.
“The other land plot is adjacent to the JORR II toll road, but the land acquisition process is being processed. The deadline is been set on Feb. 8 to complete the process,” he said.
President Director of PT Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI) Edi Sukmono explains that one approach taken by the company in land acquisition is dealing with individual families, whose land is affected by land acquisition process. Edi said there are about 815 plots of land to be cleared.
“We assume there are 800 households,” he said. (*)