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♚ Maurina · @xLmaoBieber

16th Jan 2013 from Twitlonger

The central government says it has agreed to take on a larger share of the cost of building Jakarta’s mass rapid transit rail line, but has declined to say how much.

Hatta Rajasa, the coordinating minister for the economy, said on Tuesday that a high-level government committee had discussed a proposal by Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo that the city’s share of the Rp 110 trillion ($11.4 billion) cost for the project be reduced.

“The committee has decided that the ventral government will make a change to the current composition [of the cost burden],” Hatta said at his office.
“However, I don’t want to give any figures until I sign [an agreement] with the governor. I don’t want the governor to have to find out about our decision through the news media.”

He added that the committee, comprising officials from his office, the Finance Ministry, the Transportation Ministry and the National Development Planning Agency (Bappenas), would notify Joko about the decision today.

Joko is seeking to revise the terms of the investment in the project by the city administration and central government, resulting in him refusing to give the go-ahead until an agreement is reached with the central government.

He has proposed an investment ratio of 60:40, with the central government taking the larger share. However, Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo insists that the ratio should stay at 42:58 as agreed back in 2005, with Jakarta pumping more money into the joint financing.

Hatta said last month that Joko’s concerns about the city administration’s ability to pay off the cost, in the form of a loan from the Japan International Cooperation Agency, were short-sighted and did not take the city’s long-term economic growth into full consideration.

However, he said on Tuesday that upon further evaluation, Joko’s proposal appeared reasonable.

He pointed out that since the initial cost structure was agreed on in 2005, there had been a raft of revisions to the planned MRT, such as the inclusion of several new stations, the extension of the underground section of the rail line, and an extension of the first phase of the line.

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