Ortus Holdings Ltd, a company controlled by Edward Soeryadjaya, brother of Edwin Soeryadjaya (substantial shareholder in Adaro Energy), controls 90% shares in PT Jakarta Monorail, which will build the long-delayed US$726 million public infrastructure project.
The 30-KM monorail project will hopefully ease traffic congestion in the city. It passes busy streets and business centers like Sudirman, Kuningan, and Roxy square.
As reported earlier, Kalla Group, controlled by former vice president Jusuf Kalla, also want to control majority shares of PT Jakarta Monorail.
Interestingly, both Kalla and Soeryadjaya were main supporters of Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo and Basuki Tjahaja Purnama in last year’s governor election.
Edward Soeryadjaya, known for his close relationship with Golkar Party, has long involved in a dispute with Siti Hartati Murdaya, business woman known for close relationship with President SBY and Democratic Party.
Public actually don’t care too much about politics and power struggle behind the monorail, which was started by Megawati administration, but suspended by then Jakarta governor Fauzi Bowo, who is one of leaders at Democratic Party. Jokowi, as we all know, is cadre of PDI-P led by Megawati Soekarnoputri.
They also don’t care much about competition to win public support between Jokowi and Dahlan Iskan (minister of state-owned enterprises) related to the state-owned construction firm Adhi Karya (ADHI)’s position in the project. In fact, the competition might generate good thing for public, because ADHI plans its own monorail project worth Rp8 trillion.
As reported earlier, ADHI plans a 124-KM long monorail, consisted of three phases. Phase I connects Bekasi Timur-Cawang, Cibubur-Cawang, and Cawang-Kuningan, and Palmerah-Kuningan. Phase II connects Pulo Gadung-Kelapa Gading-Harmoni-Kali Deres-Soekarno Hatta Airport. Phase III, meanwhile, connects Cibubur-Sentul and Bekasi Timur-Cikarang.
As for Ortus, the company will have to compensate US$30 million to ADHI, which was part of Jakarta Monorail consortium, but pulled out due to competition in controlling the project with Ortus.
Financing shouldn’t be an issue, some bankers said, because Jakarta Monorail (Ortus) will transport at least 270,000 people per day at about US$1 per passenger (one-way). It could also generate income from advertisements and retail spaces throughout the route.
So, basically Ortus Holdings replaces another Singapore-based company Omnico Singapore Pte in the project. Omnico established PT Omnico Holdings Indonesia for the project plus five others in the period of 2003-2004, including Omnico Nusantara Energy Pte Ltd Omnico was the one which planned to build methanol plant worth US$270 million in Senoro, Central Sulawesi in partnership with China HuanQiu CEC. We know, however, both the monorail and methanol projects were suspended.
Initial members of Jakarta Monorail Consortium were: (1) SMRT Engineering Ltd, (2) ST Electronics, (3) UE Singapore Pte Ltd, (4) Rotem Company, (5) CREC/CITIC (China), (6) MSI Global Pte Ltd, (7) Larsen & Turbo, (8) PT Wijaya Karya, (9) Adhi Karya, (10) PT Indonesia Transit Central, (11) Law Project Management Pte Ltd, and (12) Omnico Singapore Pte Ltd.
Until now, Ortus Holdings yet to disclose members of its consortium. Like in other infrastructure projects, this is also a competition between various suppliers and technology.
Reliable public transportation is still a better option than Dahlan Iskan’s proposal to add motorcycle-dedicated lane in the city’s toll roads.
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