Jakarta faces lengthy wait for metro fix to gridlock
Officials expect new rapid transit system won't be ready until mid-2020s as city faces growing economic losses due to the chronic traffic jams
Ajeng Dewanti wakes up every weekday before sunrise, squeezes into an overcrowded car, and spends the next two hours making the 17-kilometre journey through the Jakarta gridlock to her work.
The tortuous slog in slow-moving cars and on motorbikes in the oppressively hot, smog-choked Indonesian capital is common for commuters, many of whom long ago abandoned an inadequate network of crowded buses and trains.
"I spend a good deal of my life on the road," said Dewanti, 30, who travels with other commuters in a private car that has been converted into a makeshift taxi to reach her work.
But hopes are now high the perennial traffic chaos could be eased after one of Asia's last major cities without a metro set out clear plans to build one, after more than 20 years of discussing the idea.
Officials on Thursday revealed the two consortia of Japanese and Indonesian firms who will build the first section of the network, a key step before building starts this year.
Shimizu-Obayashi-Jaya Konstruksi and Sumitomo-Mitsui-Hutama Karya will build an underground section from a rich southern suburb to the landmark Hotel Indonesia roundabout in the heart of Jakarta.
