First, many thanks to The Jakarta Post for its enduring support of the Transjakarta Busway network. Its articles have become an instrumental in informing both international and domestic readers as to Transjakarta’s development.

In your Tuesday, March 24 article titled “Transjakarta urged to run corridor 9, 10,” on paragraph 9, it was written that, “Damantoro, from the Institute for Development and Transportation Policy (ITDP), said the management had to speed up the process of buying buses for the new corridors.” This was followed by the quotation, “*Both the busway’s management and city administration should tackle the bus procurement issue immediately,”’ Damantoro said.”

During the press conference, it is correct that I was talking about the procurement process (proses pengadaan) as part of legal issues facing the operation of the Busway that should be immediately resolved, but I was not talking about buying buses. We comprehend this as a misinterpretation, as it happened in the past. Through this letter, on behalf of the ITDP I would like to clarify my statement to avoid misperceptions of the ITDP’s standpoint on this particular issue. In regards to procurement, the ITDP recommends that the BLU and the City administration procure bus services instead of vehicles through an open bidding process as it would be the most efficient and competitive process.

We trust that this clarification is authoritative enough for the Post to set the record straight and avoid public misperception.

Damantoro
Transport Specialist
ITDP Indonesia
Jakarta

To view the original Letter to the Editor, click here:
ITDP Indonesia Letter to the Editor in Jakarta Post