[1] The project was initially awarded in 2003 to Malaysian company MTrans, the technology owner and builders of the KL Monorail.

Omnico contested this move, but construction continued nonetheless, under the assumption that the basic foundation piles and pillars can be used by whichever consortium and technology wins in the end.

A deal has been signed to buy the pylons built between 2004 and 2007 from PT Adhi Karya for Rp 190 billion (US$19.5 million).

[12] The consortium ran a public competition on its website[13] to choose the name the new system: "JET", an acronym for "Jakarta Eco Transit".

[14] In announcing the deal the Governor called for work to commence as soon as possible and said the line should open by 2016; he also said that he hoped the other consortium proposing a regional monorail in greater Jakarta would make progress (see section below).

The proposed elevated grand monorail station in Dukuh Atas, Stadion Madya Senayan and Kuningan Sentral for example, has raised critical questions since the supporting pylons of this grand stations will occupy public spaces; street, canal, pedestrian and public parks.

Reasons cited were that the route JM proposed to build was not feasible and doubts over the company's ability to fund the project.

In 2005, the non-governmental organization Pelangi said "based on (these) sustainability requirements, the busway outweighs the subway or monorail"; they recommended that Jakarta should focus on extending and improving the TransJakarta bus rapid transit (BRT) network rather than build subways or monorails as the busway would have lower capital costs and did not require operational subsidies.

[27] (Transjakarta has already the worlds longest BRT network at 172 km with 200 stations and operates with 520 buses carrying 350,000 people per day).

In 2008, the former Mayor of Bogotá, Colombia, Enrique Peñalosa also called for Jakarta to expand the busways instead of monorail or subways; he told a seminar that "[A] subway would cost three times its contract value, yet it would only cover several lines, (but) with the same amount of money you could reach all parts of the city with the (busway) network,".

Transportation experts deemed that the city center monorail project would not answer Jakarta's traffic problems, but would only serves as a novelty tourists' ride.

[29] In November 2012, the Director of the Institute of Transportation Studies, Darmaningtyas, said the capacity of the monorail was too limited, it was not economic and not suitable for Jakarta: "Everything has to be built, including the train depot.

State-owned construction company PT Adhi Karya is to use the numerous monorail support poles to develop the Jabodebek LRT.

With common track gauge of 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in), would make LRT easier to integrate with existing commuter railways and Jakarta MRT.