'Treasure' Appearance in the MRT Project, Witness of Jakarta's History

Dream - The General Director of PT MRT Jakarta, Mohamad Aprindy, revealed the discovery of colonial-era artifacts, Batavia, and Sunda Kelapa, at the construction site of MRT Phase 2 Bundaran HI-Kota.

Aprindy said that they have asked the National Archaeology Agency to help identify the findings in this second phase.

"The next challenge is who will accompany us to help us because there are many findings in this second phase, old artifact findings. There are artifacts from the Batavia (and) Sunda Kelapa eras," said Aprindy, quoted from merdeka.com, Wednesday, September 21, 2022.

This "treasure" discovery is not the first time it has happened. In December 2021, the MRT discovered ancient Batavia water channels and parts of the Glodok bridge structure, which are suspected Cultural Heritage Objects (ODCB).

Then, on July 30, 2022, the MRT, together with the Jakarta Cultural Agency, Cultural Heritage Expert Team, and TSP, agreed to carry out proper documentation processes, and some of the findings of the ancient Batavia water channels will be displayed in the MRT Kota station plan.

"That's why we created a visitor center gallery for the MRT at the BEOS station. It is located in the middle of the city station, its function is not only for the people or train passengers who get off at Kota to know information about the MRT but also to display related artifacts and provide one-stop information," explained Aprindy.

Previously, the Governor of Jakarta, Anies Baswedan, stated that the construction of the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Phase 2A from Bundaran HI to Kota will be completed in 2028. He conveyed this when witnessing the groundbreaking of CP202 MRT Jakarta Phase 2A at Plaza Beos, Kota Tua, West Jakarta on Saturday (10/9/2022).

"We hope that later there will be a connection from Lebak Bulus area to Kota Tua. According to projections, it is estimated that by 2028, everything will be completed in Kota Tua," said Anies.

The length of Phase 2A track is 5.8 km and consists of three work packages with six underground stations (Thamrin, Monas, Harmoni, Sawah Besar, Mangga Besar, Glodok) and one at-grade station (Kota).