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The National Development Planning Agency has estimated that Jakarta’s plan to build an elevated busway lane would cost seven times more than its initial plan to build a monorail system.

Dedy Supriadi Priatna, deputy for infrastructure development at the agency known as Bappenas, said that an elevated bus lane would require $500 million.

Construction on the monorail project halted in September after the Jakarta administration failed to lure prospective investors to complete the Rp 600 billion ($66.6 million) project.

After the catastrophic failure of the project, Jakarta immediately shifted its attention to an elevated busway lane, making use of about 160 pillars already constructed for monorail.

The central and local government would jointly provide $260 million, Dedy said, while private sectors were welcome to provide the rest of the funding.

Dedy refused to divulge details of the project, adding that the Jakarta government, which first proposed the idea, had not coordinated with other agencies, despite announcing that construction would start next year and be completed by 2014.

“The guided bus was proposed by the Jakarta government,” he said. “In principle it would use existing structures [from the monorail project],” he said.

Guided buses usually run on dedicated tracks and are steered by external methods, such as with their tires in sunken tracks.

Sutanto Suhodho, the governor’s deputy for transportation, earlier said that the elevated bus project would be more cost effective than the monorail project, adding that some pillars, in various stages of completion in the Senayan and Kuningan areas, might have to be reinforced to cope with a new system.

“This project is the most efficient and feasible,” Sutanto said in September.

However Dedy said that Jakarta is adding another route to the original monorail line, which runs in a loop line from Semanggi, Casablanca, Kuningan and back again to Semanggi, passing through Jakarta’s busy business districts.

The other route, Dedy said, will link Kampung Melayu in East Jakarta to Roxy in West Jakarta and will intersect the first line in Casablanca area.

No monorail pillars have been constructed along the proposed second route.

The loop line would be served by 50 double buses, each with a capacity to transport 180 people. The system is estimated to be able to move 45,000 passengers per day with three minute gaps between buses.

Jakarta is earmarking Rp 2.89 trillion for several transportation projects, including the development of three new TransJakarta busway corridors, the purchase of land for a fourth new corridor and appropriation of land for a mass rapid transit rail line.

It also includes the construction of two overpasses in Central Jakarta to improve road and rail traffic flow.