President Joko Widodo Inaugurates the Drilling of MRT Connecting HI-Lebak Bulus
President Joko Widodo inaugurates the operation of Antareja, an underground drilling machine for MRT project, on Monday (21/9) morning, in Senayan, Jakarta.
President Joko Widodo inaugurated the operation of tunnel boring machine (TBM) of Jakartas Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) project, at Patung Pemuda (Statue of Youth), Senayan Roundabout, Jakarta, on Monday (21/9) morning.
The machine that drills approximately 8 metres per day will operate 24 hours a day, starting from September to December 2016.
President Joko Widodo gave a name Antareja to the first drilling machine referring to a character of underground wayang.
According to the plan, the MRT project will use four drilling machines. Two machines will be used to drill a tunnel from Senayan, specifically under the statue of Api Nan Tak Kunjung Padam/eternal flames (Senayan Statue), South Jakarta, to Setiabudi, Central Jakarta. The other machine is still at assembly process.
The TBM machines use the first earth press balance technology in Indonesia. Constructed by Japanese company, the machines will be operated by Shimizu, Obayashi, Wijaya Karya and Construction Service.
The underground drilling is guaranteed to be safe, not causing vibration or landslide. People do not have to worry about the rainfall because the underground station is constructed with layered wall.
PT MRT Jakarta, in a press statement, said that the project of MRT connecting South corridor to North corridor is divided into two phases. The first phase that connecting Lebak Bulus and Senayan Roundabout is nearly 30% finish, meanwhile the second phase is connecting Senayan Roundabout and Kampung Bandan.
On the first corridor, that is 9.8 km length, MRT will pass the elevated road. When it get closer to Senayan Statue, the MRT will enter underground lane along 9.7 km length, heading to Senayan Roundabout.
The construction phase I (Lebak Bulus- Senayan Roundabout) is estimated to be finished by 2018 which will accommodate for 280,000 passengers per day.
It was mentioned that the construction of elevated road is 18 % done, and the underground structure is 41 % done in 31 August 2015. Meanwhile, the ongoing construction are including the construction of routes column foundation and elevated station, the construction of underground station boxes and the construction of MRT depot. (DND/RAH/ES)(RAS/MMB/YM-Naster/Sy)
