Jokowi urged to be cautious on toll projects

Andreas D. Arditya, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Jakarta | Mon, December 17 2012, 7:37 AM A- A A+ Paper Edition | Page: 9 After being told by experts to do away with a plan to construct six new elevated inner-city toll roads, Jakarta Governor Joko Jokowi Widodo has received another warning from the central government. Deputy Transportation Minister Bambang Susantono told the administration not to be too quick to construct new roads in an effort to ease traffic congestion, warning new roads might worsen the problem. The city needs to be really careful, especially about the idea of constructing new roads in the inner city area. New roads could encourage people to use private cars instead, Bambang said over the weekend. The deputy minister said that new roads might help ease traffic congestion initially. But as soon as people realize it is better to use cars than public transportation, traffic congestion will recur and be even worse, he said. The elevated toll road project, at a predicted cost of Rp 42 trillion (US$4.3 billion), is expected to begin next year under the initiation of PT Jakarta Tollroad Development (JTD). Bambang said that he was not against the construction of new roads in the capital, especially considering Jakartas low road-to-space ratio of 6.2 percent below the ideal 10 percent. However, I think Jakarta should add more roads to support public transportation, he said. According to ministry data there are a total of 19.2 million commuting trips made to and from the city each day. Only 7 million trips are made by bus or commuter trains, while the others are made by motorcycle or car. Bambang said the most important task was to persuade commuters to use public transportation. At least half of the trips should be converted to using trains and buses, he said. Jokowi has yet to make a firm decision regarding a plan to build inner-city elevated toll roads. The governor has said that he does not support the idea, but added that he needed to conduct a thorough study to determine whether he should scrap the project, which was endorsed by his predecessor Fauzi Bowo as well as the central government. Deputy Governor Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama has hinted that they might approve the

construction of two elevated toll roads that could be integrated with access to Tanjung Priok in North Jakarta. The two toll roads are those connecting Semanan in West Jakarta to Sunter in North Jakarta, and Sunter to Bekasi in West Java. Experts have blasted the elevated toll-road plan as not making any sense because it would have no positive effect on eradicating the citys traffic problems. The Jakarta Transportation Council (DTKJ) has said that as well as increasing the use of private vehicles instead of public transportation, the plan would also have a number of adverse effects, including deteriorating spatial management, more pollution and damage to the environment and public health. The other toll roads that have been planned for the second phase are those from Duri Pulo in Central Jakarta, to Kampung Melayu in East Jakarta, and from Kampung Melayu to Kemayoran, East Jakarta. The third construction phase will link Ulujami in South Jakarta, to Tanah Abang in Central Jakarta and the fourth will connect Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta, to the Casablanca area in South Jakarta. In the meantime, the administration will apply in March a car-restriction scheme to ease traffic. With the new restriction, private cars with odd-numbered license plates will be banned on even dates and vice versa. The policy will be effective from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. from Monday to Saturday, affecting roads used by the Transjakarta Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system and a number of other main roads.

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