The Jakarta administration is taking a step toward creating more energy-efficient buildings by drafting green regulations for future and existing structures.

The regulations are being drafted by the Jakarta Property Management and Control Agency and will form the legal grounding for the green designs, agency head Hari Sasongko said Wednesday.

"Many cities in the world have applied the green building concept. We're late in doing so and it's time for us to follow suit as we face limited energy resources and fuel price increases," he told The Jakarta Post at City Hall during a seminar on green buildings.

"The agency is currently drafting regulations to enforce the concept," he said.

The seminar, which was attended by city officials, architects, building consultants, city planners and environmentalists, is the administration's first step toward the implementation of green buildings in the capital, Governor Fauzi Bowo said.

Many buildings in the city are classified as polluters because they are the city's largest energy consumers and largest waste producers, Hari said.

"It is hard to encourage developers to voluntarily erect green buildings because the designs are costly", he said. "That's why we need regulations to enforce greener buildings. We will stipulate incentives and punishments in the regulations."

He said governments in other countries offered lower land and building tax rates for those applying green designs. "We'll see whether such incentives are possible here."

In addition, he said, the regulations would be applicable to existing and future buildings.

"Existing buildings will have to make some adjustments," Hari said.

Green buildings capture sunlight through a transparent roof that illuminates the interior, while natural wind blows through architectural airways to provide ventilation.

A building is also classified as environmentally friendly if it produces low levels of waste and carbon.

"The concept is all about decreasing the use of air-conditioning and energy consumption through lights by using a ventilation system," Hari said.

"We will also promote greeneries for building roofs."

Fauzi said green designs would also be applied to public buildings.

Architect and urbanologist Ridwan Kamil said at an international seminar energy-saving designs were urgent for the densely populated capital as it had little space for green areas.

"The simplest way to make existing buildings greener, particularly for high-rise buildings, is to at least start by greening their roofs," he said.

A green roof, he said, would lead to an immediate drop of 1 to 2 degrees Celsius in a building's interior temperature.

The administration of Governor Fauzi Bowos has approved new taxi fares proposed by the Land Transportation Owners Organization (Organda) in line with fuel price increases.

The governor said the new cab fares were based on Rp 6,000 (64 US cents) flag fall, Rp 3,000 per kilometer and Rp 30,000 waiting fee per hour, as proposed by Organda.

The charges are up from Rp 5,000 for flag fall, Rp 2,500 per kilometer and Rp 25,000 waiting fee per hour.

"I agree with Organda's proposal. The new fares will be applied soon," Fauzi said Tuesday at City Hall.

The Organda-proposed fares have also been approved by the city transportation agency and the Jakarta Transportation Council.

Organda secretary TR Panjaitan said he was pleased that the governor would soon introduce the new fares, which "have been negotiated among taxi businesses".

"Taxi companies should charge a flag fall of Rp 8,000 but that's impossible as the number of passengers would drop," he said.

The Blue Bird Group has said it is considering adopting a 20 percent increase on its taxi fares to maintain services.

Blue Bird spokesman Teguh Wijayanto said he was optimistic that all of his company's taxis could maintain an occupancy rate of 50 to 60 percent, with a daily average of 300 kilometers.

"Learning from the 2005 fuel price hike, we may only lose some customers for the first six months and will regain their trust after that," he said.

Taxi operator PT Express Transindo Utama, which is one of many taxi operators that apply lower rates — also known as tarif lama — is yet to decide whether it will increase its fares, company operational director Herwan Gozali, said,

In response to mounting requests from commuters, state railway operator PT Kereta Api (KA) will soon begin running electric train services to Bogor, West Java and Serpong, Tangerang, at night.

PT KA's Greater Jakarta public relations head, Akhmad Sujadi, said Sunday the plan was prompted in part by the increased fuel prices.

"People, including the (Jakarta) Governor (Fauzi Bowo), have demanded electric train services in the evening, although they have yet to submit formal requests to our company" he told The Jakarta Post.

"Accordingly, we're responding to their requests through our plan," he said.

Akhmad said, however, the company had yet to calculate how many commuters would use the evening services.

The company recorded some 388,000 commuters using its services daily on the two routes last year, with a 30 percent ticket leakage, Akhmad said.

The plans, he said, would be finalized at a meeting today, before officially announcing the additional services on Tuesday morning.

"We still need more discussions to determine scheduling and security details," Akhmad said.

At present, PT KA operates its first trains from Bogor at 4 a.m. and from Serpong at 5 a.m., and the last trains leave Jakarta for Bogor at 9 p.m. and for Serpong at 7 p.m., he said.

Trains run every 15 minutes at peak times, and once an hour around midday, Akhmad said.

The company also needs to improve its ticket sales system, he said.

"We're still figuring out how to sell tickets for evening electric train services, because our ticket booths are usually closed at those times and our ticket officers leave at 7 p.m.," he said.

The company, he said, would charge commuters Rp 6,000 (64 U.S. cents) for a one-way ticket on an evening economy-class air conditioned electric train.

With the government imposing fuel price increases of an average 28.7 percent, almost all public vehicles have resorted to increasing their fares.

Last week, a number of public vehicles in Greater Jakarta held a two-day strike to protest the price increases, causing thousands of commuters to be stranded.

In response to the strike, Fauzi urged PT KA and busway operator TransJakarta to extend their service hours to midnight.

Public transportation observer Tulus Abadi of the Indonesian Consumers Foundation said he encouraged PT KA's plan to provide train services at night time.

The city tourism agency has reduced its projection for the number of tourist arrivals to the capital this year from 1.5 million to 1.2 million, following fuel price increases, says agency head Arie Budhiman.

He said Wednesday fuel price increases had consequently contributed to transportation fare increases and thus affected operational costs in the hospitality industry.

"Operational costs for the hospitality industry will definitely rise, although business players in the industry may have strategies to cope with the increases," he said at City Hall.

Arie said higher operational costs might reduce the number of tourist arrivals.

"A target of 1.2 million tourist arrivals is the most realistic target we can achieve this year in such an economic condition," he said.

The agency projected 1.5 million tourist arrivals in 2008 in accordance with economic conditions when the number was calculated.

The revised number was necessary because of a decline in tourist arrivals last year compared to a record number in 2006, he said.

According to Arie, tourist arrivals last year dropped by 76,000 from 1.1 million recorded in 2006.

The Jakarta Statistics Agency recorded 352,734 tourist arrivals in the first quarter, a 26.3 percent increase compared to 279,247 in 2007's first quarter.

In March alone, there were 129,789 tourist arrivals, up by 11.4 percent from 116,475 in February, according to the statistics agency.

The revised number will also cause a drop in the city's revenue from the hospitality industry.

"Last year we managed to collect Rp 1.2 trillion (US$128.55 million) in revenue from the industry," Arie said.

"We were hoping the industry would be able to chip in at least $300 million this year to the city's revenue with the projected 1.5 million tourist arrivals."

He said the agency had acquired Rp 30 billion from the 2008 city budget to be spent on the agency's programs, including tourism promotions.

Last year, the agency spent Rp 15 billion on promotions only.

In line with the nationwide program Visit Indonesia 2008, which targets 7 million foreign arrivals and $6.3 million in foreign exchange revenue, the agency is spicing up its programs with exhibitions and festivals, said Arie.

"Our top programs include old town events, batik festival and Jakarta festival weeks," he said.

Jakarta, a destination for many businesspeople, has facilities for the meeting, intensive tour, convention and exhibition (MICE) market.

City spatial planning agency head Wiriyatmoko said the new towers would be erected at 850 different locations as recommended in a study by PT Jakarta Komunikasi.

PT Jakarta Komunikasi is a subsidiary of city-owned construction firm PT Jakarta Propertindo.

"More than 800 BTS towers will be built on vacant land throughout Jakarta. Each tower will be used by at least three cellular operators," Wiriyatmoko said at City Hall.

"The spatial planning agency will determine the towers' design. We're still working on it."

He said the plan to remove the existing towers came after complaints they made the city look like a "tower jungle".

More than 1,700 legally built BTS towers will be dismantled, Sarwo Handayani, assistant to city secretary for development, said Monday.

The plan is a follow-up of a 2006 regulation requiring cellular operators to share towers — a system which industry experts say would drastically reduce each company's operating costs.

The concept was first introduced in Jakarta in 2001, with a gubernatorial decree stipulating each tower be used by at least two cellular operators.

As a result of the 2001 ruling, the city's property management and control agency stopped issuing licenses for new towers in 2000. The licenses for the existing 1,700 towers expired in 2006, but because the PT Jakarta Komunikasi study was only completed this year, temporary extensions were granted earlier this month.

The temporary licenses will expire as soon as the city administration starts implementing the plan to dismantle existing towers and build new ones.

Last year, the property management and control agency dismantled 75 of 1,508 towers whose licenses had expired.

Hari Sasongko, head of the agency, said the planned dismantling of towers this year could meet with budgetary hurdles.

"It costs between Rp 15 million (US$1,609) and Rp 20 million to dismantle a 20 to 30-meter-high tower," he said.

Heru Sutadi, a member of the Indonesian Telecommunications Regulatory Agency, said most cellular operators supported the shared tower concept in principle.

"But some towers cannot be used by more than two operators," he said.

The central government and the Jakarta administration will reconstruct Dukuh Atas train station in Central Jakarta to become a public transportation hub for those traveling throughout Greater Jakarta, an official says.

Transportation Minister Jusman Syafii Djamal said Friday the Jakarta administration and the ministry were planning to cater to passengers of the busway, train and the future Mass Rapid Transit system.

"Dukuh Atas station will serve as a major transit point for commuters from many different destinations," he said at City Hall.

Jusman and the ministry's train director general, Wendy Aritenang, met Governor Fauzi Bowo and Jakarta Transportation Agency head Nurachman to discuss a number of transportation issues, including the development of Dukuh Atas train station and railway-based transportation mode.

During the meeting, Jusman said, the ministry and the administration promised to speed up the development of a double-track train system from Jatinegara, South Jakarta, to Bekasi, West Java, as well as the revitalization of the railway system to Tanjung Priok port.

He said the government currently faced obstacles in land acquisition for the Jatinegara-Bekasi double-track system that would link Jatinegara to the east.

"We have the money and we hope the administration will find the best solution to settle this problem," he added.

The ministry and the administration will have to acquire a remainder of 13,000 square meters of land out of the 140,000 square meters required, said Wendy.

He said a team was yet to determine the amount of money needed for the land acquisition because the land was partly owned by residents.

The double-track system project, expected to cost approximately Rp 3 trillion (US$321.78 million), is scheduled for completion in 2012.

Land disputes also restrain the ministry from reviving the railway system providing access to Tanjung Priok port.

Wendy said it needed another 6,000 square meters of land out of the 20,000 square meters required to rerun trains for three kilometers directly to the port.

In the meeting, the ministry and the administration also discussed the development of a railway system that would connect the capital to the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, said Jusman.

"The administration hopes the railway system can pass Pluit (North Jakarta) before heading to the airport," he said.

Initially, the system was designed to start from Manggarai train station, South Jakarta, to Dukuh Atas train station and then to the airport.

The Jakarta administration will not support state-owned power operator PT PLN's plan to turn off billboard lights on Jl. Sudirman and Jl. Thamrin in South and Central Jakarta because they contribute significant income to the city, an official says.

Deputy head of the Jakarta Revenue Agency, Rachmat Achyar, said the operator's plan would discourage companies from advertising on those streets.

"We've never studied the significance of lighting on the attractiveness of a billboard, but logically, companies will experience a loss if people cannot see their ads at night," he said.

Rachmat said companies might not be willing to renew their contracts with the administration after their current ones expired.

He said billboards on the two streets contributed significantly to the city's revenue, as they yielded Rp 15,000 (US$1.60) per square meter per day; the highest rates in the city.

Rachmat said the administration's policy to take down several cigarette company billboards on the streets cost the city about Rp 10 billion in tax revenue last year.

PLN has been campaigning to reduce power consumption in the country in the wake of increasing fuel prices and subsequent increasing production costs. One of their policies is to encourage business districts in high power consuming cities like Jakarta to start cutting usage.

Secretary-general of the Indonesian Advertising Company Association, Irfan Ramli, said if the power company implemented the policy, it should not only apply to their billboards.

"I believe we and our clients are ready to support the policy, but PLN must assure all office buildings, restaurants and entertainment venues do the same thing," he said.

Previously, PLN suggested shopping mall operators cut one operational hour to save energy. The association of mall operators voiced their objections to the plan, saying the measure would considerably hurt their income.

Head of public relations for PLN's Jakarta and Tangerang branch, Azwar Lubis, said the operator did not plan to get tough on the policy.

He said PLN understood it would not be easy to implement the energy-saving program without reducing the productivity of business players.

"Our goal is to raise the awareness of our customers that it is important to start saving energy," said Anwar.

He said the operator was also ready to provide personnel to assist building management to use power more efficiently. Anwar said the operator targeted business districts because industries and households had their own energy-saving programs.

The operator has already applied consumption restrictions to industries and high power consuming residential areas.

City secretary Muhayat said Monday the administration was yet to be informed on the power-saving program.

"We'll discuss that in a meeting soon where we will decide whether an evaluation of targeted tax revenue is necessary in response to PLN's plan," he said.

Power consumption profile of Jakarta and Tangerang from January to March 2008 (in gigawatt hours)

Industry 2,188
Business 2,057
Housing 2,368
Public and government 289
Social 196

Highest voltage burden: 4,140 megawatts in daylight and 3,929 megawatts in the evening PLN's national target for power-saving program: Each consumer should reduce consumption by 20 percent

The Jakarta administration will next month start paying Transjakarta bus suppliers the operational rates stated in public tenders, which are lower than those proposed by the suppliers, Deputy Governor Prijanto said Friday.

The decision came before the conclusion of negotiations between the city administration, Transjakarta and bus suppliers. The negotiations have been going on since the end of last year.

Prijanto said the decision was made in line with the administration's plan to begin operating articulated buses sometime this month.

"The administration has paid higher rates to bus suppliers for their services on Corridors 4 to 7 from January to April based on past agreements and plans to pay them the same amount until May," he said at City Hall.

"But from June, we'll pay those bus suppliers based on the rates determined by recent public tenders."

He said the administration would continue paying bus suppliers the lower rates from June until new agreements were reached.

The bus consortiums supply buses on Corridors 2 to 7 and charge busway operator Transjakarta for every kilometer their buses travel, according to agreements.

Buses on Corridor 1 (Blok M, South Jakarta, to Kota, West Jakarta) are owned by the administration.

PT Trans Batavia supplies buses on Corridor 2 (Pulo Gadung, East Jakarta-Harmoni, Central Jakarta) and Corridor 3 (Harmoni-Kalideres, West Jakarta).

PT Jakarta Trans Metropolitan (JTM) owns buses on Corridor 4 (Pulo Gadung, East Jakarta-Dukuh Atas, Central Jakarta) and Corridor 6 (Ragunan-Kuningan, both in South Jakarta), while PT Jakarta Mega Trans (JMT) provides buses for Corridor 5 (Ancol, North Jakarta-Kampung Melayu, East Jakarta) and Corridor 7 (Kampung Rambutan, East Jakarta-Kampung Melayu).

All corridors use single buses, although Corridor 5 was initially designed to use articulated buses.

JMT has supplied 17 articulated buses for Corridor 5, as mandated, out of the 30 required for the corridor.

The remaining 13 articulated buses will be tender winner PT Lorena's responsibility.

JMT's articulated buses, which can carry twice as many commuters as single buses, have been parked idly for approximately eight months as it is yet to reach an agreement with the administration over operational rates per kilometer the buses travel.

Last year, bus operators Lorena and PT Primajasa won the public tenders to procure Transjakarta buses for Corridors 4 to 7.

Lorena submitted a rate of Rp 16,661 (US$1.78) per kilometer for bus operations on Corridor 5 and Rp 9,443 per km on Corridor 7 .

Primajasa also outbid its competitors in the tenders after offering a rate of Rp 9,536 per kilometer for Corridor 4 and Rp 9,371 per kilometer for Corridor 6.

The bids offered by Lorena and Primajasa have pushed the administration to pay JMT and JTM the same amount offered by both tender winners.

Transjakarta pays JTM Rp 12,885 on Corridors 4 and 6 and pays JMT Rp 12,885 on Corridor 7.