High Roads Will Bring More Cars to Jakarta: Activists
Arientha Primanita & Dofa Fasila. The Jakarta Globe, Jakarta - 10/12/2010
A coalition of activists on Thursday criticized the Jakarta administration’s plan to build elevated roads in an attempt to solve city traffic, saying it would only add to the problem as more people would be encouraged to drive private vehicles in the city.
The group, Citizens Coalition for Jakarta 2030, comprises city planning experts and non-governmental organizations.
Its members said the plan to build elevated roads from Blok M to Antasari in South Jakarta and Tanah Abang in Central Jakarta to Kampung Melayu in East Jakarta would be a short-term solution to the city’s traffic problem.
“Elevated roads would not solve the traffic but would only preserve Jakarta’s traffic problem,” Ahmad Safrudin, a member of the coalition, said in a news conference on Thursday.
The city administration has budgeted Rp 1.3 trillion ($145 million) and Rp 800 billion, respectively, for the first phases of the two projects.
The first phase of the Blok M-Antasari stretch will run 5.5km, from the Cipete Market to National Police Field.
The first phase of the Tanah Abang-Kampung Melayu stretch will run 3.5km, from Casablanca in South Jakarta to Mas Mansyur in Tanah Abang.
“If more roads are built, people would only be encouraged to use private vehicles and traffic would not decrease,” he said.
Ahmad said the solution to traffic congestion must be based on public transportation as Jakarta’s central business district lacks proper transit.
Shanty Syahril, another coalition member, said the city administration was putting too much emphasis on pro-vehicle development and was ignoring eco friendly modes of transportation such as walking and bicycling.
However, Ery Basworo, head of the city’s Public Works Office, said the new roads were needed as the ratio of vehicles to road space was not in balance.
“The number of vehicles increases 10 percent per year, while roads increase less than 1 percent,” he said.
Ery said the city administration’s way of decreasing traffic jams was not only building roads but also improving public transportation at the same time.
“We are enhancing the TransJakarta Busway, and we have the Mass Rapid Transit system project to go along with railway improvement,” he said.
Meanwhile, Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo made an inspection of the new Busway Corridor 9, which is due to serve Pinangranti to Pluit, on Thursday.
It will go into operation by the end of this year along with Corridor 10, which will serve Cililitan to Tanjung Priok.
Fauzi checked the readiness of the facilities, along with Jakarta Police Traffic Director Sr. Cmr. Royke Lumowa, city transportation office head Udar Pristono and Ery.
“The facilities of Corridor 9 are 90 percent finished and the route is targeted to be done by December 15,” he told reporters.
He said a fleet of 94 buses was standing by to serve the new routes.
Fauzi said Corridor 9 was the longest, covering 28.8 kilometers across the city.