VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Construction of Jakarta's Light Rail Transit (LRT) project has been 85 percent completed and it is expected to be ready for operation ahead of the Asian Games next month.

Jakarta and Palembang will co host Asia's largest sport event in August this year, and the LRT with elevated track is designed to help facilitate transport free from traffic jams in the city.

"LRT of Jakarta is to be operational in August this year a week before the start of Asian Games," Veri Yonnevil a member of the city council (DPRD) said in Jakarta on Wednesday, July 18.

The LRT has been designed to cope with worse traffic jams in the capital city.

In Palembang , the government has already built a 24 kilometer long elevated rail track of LRT linking the Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II International Airport and the Jakabaring sport center in the South Sumatra capital city.

The Rp10.9 trillion project has a local content of 95 percent making it relatively cheap compared with those of Malaysia and Manila of the Philippines.

The project was built by the state-owned construction company PT Waskita Karya.

Construction of the project which began in 2014, is to be completed this month designed mainly to facilitate the transport of athlete from the airport to the city.

The track is built over land along the main road in the city that the implementation of the project would not be delayed on difficulty in land clearing. Land clearing has been one of the main drag in the implementation of many infrastructure projects in the country. Land owners would put a much higher price when they know their land would be used for big projects. (ANTARA)