Jakarta's damaged roads<\/p>\n
The heavy downpours and devastating floods that have struck
\nJakarta since the end of January have been a calamity. The
\ndisaster not only killed 21 people on the first few days and 16
\nothers from flood-related diseases, but also made 300,000
\nhomeless. The floods also damaged 70 percent of the city's roads.
\nJakarta's authorities have claimed they predicted the disaster
\nand held a meeting several days before the tragedy to discuss
\nways to overcome its impacts.<\/p>\n
They also, apparently, prepared an emergency budget and set up
\nspecial task forces to tackle the disaster. But the floods were
\nso devastating that the newly prepared task forces became flood
\nvictims themselves. This situation made the public believe that
\nthe authorities' reaction to the catastrophe was extremely slow.<\/p>\n
Now we hear that the city public works office is in need of Rp
\n286 billion (US$28 million) to repair damaged roads and bridges,
\nbut the already allocated budget is just Rp 210.3 billion.<\/p>\n
According to official data, the city's roads cover 46 million
\nsquare meters and measure 1.6 million kilometers. But the
\nseriousness of the damage is not measured by the area covered, or
\nthe total length of roads affected, but by how many sections of
\neach road or street are damaged. And the current floods have
\nindiscriminately damaged all types of roads in almost all corners
\nof the city.<\/p>\n
According to media reports, the worst damaged roads, marked by
\ndeep potholes, are the city's main thoroughfares such as Jl.
\nThamrin and Jl. Sudirman, plus the area around the Semanggi
\nintersection in South Jakarta. Also affected are most roads in
\nthe Grogol area, West Jakarta, Jl. Jos Sudarso, which connects
\nthe city and Tanjung Priok harbor, and all innercity toll roads.
\nJakarta is perhaps the only city in the world that charges tolls
\nfor vehicles using expressways within the city. Some of these
\naffected roads have become virtually impassible because the holes
\nare nearly half-a-meter deep.<\/p>\n
Tired of bottleneck traffic jams the public is now asking when
\nthe repair work will begin. The question might not be difficult
\nto answer, but there are no signs yet as to when the heavy
\ndownpours -- both in Jakarta and in the hilly area around Bogor,
\nwhich sends the floodwaters down here -- will abate.<\/p>\n
Anyway, the Ministry of Settlement and Territorial
\nDevelopment, after complaints by many road users, recently
\nstarted to repair some damaged roads, but, under present
\nconditions, such a job will cost a great deal of money and yield
\nalmost no result. For example, funds for road maintenance along
\nthe expressway connecting the city and Soekarno-Hatta
\nInternational Airport, which was originally set at Rp 250 million
\nper annum, had to be increased to Rp 300 million because the
\ninitial repair work was swept away by returning floods two days
\nafter work commenced.<\/p>\n
But, we have also to realize that, on other occasions,
\nsupervision regarding the upgrading or repairing of roads has
\nbeen very poor. In this country, the lack of serious supervision
\ncan often be connected to collusion between officials and the
\nprivate sector.<\/p>\n
However, the damage and repair work of the city's
\ninfrastructure will never come to end as long as Jakarta is prone
\nto flooding. The city authorities have complained of their lack
\nof influence in making the local authorities of surrounding
\nareas, which are under the jurisdiction of West Java province,
\nhelp preserve water catchment areas so that Jakarta can be saved
\nfrom flooding. Thirteen of the rivers that flow through the
\ncapital city, come from West Java.<\/p>\n
During the first days of devastation, many people expected
\nPresident Megawati Soekarnoputri to not only inspect the stricken
\nareas but to also take drastic steps to appoint a state
\nadministrator for the preservation of Greater Jakarta's
\ninfrastructure. This region needs such a figure to help avoid a
\ncalamity on the scale of the recent flooding from ever happening
\nagain.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/jakartas-damaged-roads-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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