Jakarta – Indonesian authorities are to start building a US$2.4 billion (S$3.4 billion) triple-deck road and railway project in July to overcome Jakarta's transport problems, a report said yesterday.

The project includes a 23.55-km elevated train built above a surface road but under a tollway, the Antara news agency said.

Soil testing and drilling will start on April 21, it said.

Antara quoted Mr Bambang Suroso, chief executive of PT Citra Lamtoro Gung Persada which is to build the project, as saying that the actual construction would start in July.

The project will link the southern residential suburb of Bintaro to Kota in north Jakarta.

It was awarded without tender by a presidential decree to Lamtoro Gung, a company controlled by President Suharto's eldest daughter Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana. Mr Suroso said that the project would be funded partly by foreign loans.

He said 75 per cent of the investment would come from loans while the remaining 25 per cent would be in capital equity.

About 40 per cent of the loan would be in foreign syndicated loans that could involve up to 61 banks, he said.

He said the state railway company would operate a light rail transit system on the railtrack.

Lamtoro Gung has built several toll roads in Jakarta and other Indonesian towns, mostly on long-term build-operate-transfer schemes.

Jakarta also plans to build a subway network to alleviate the city's clogged traffic ways. Plans have been drawn for an underground line that would link a commercial area in the southern part of the capital to the northern business district.