Subway for Jakarta<\/p>\n
A subway system for Jakarta? Wow!<\/p>\n
\"Finally!\" was probably what most Jakartans uttered when the
\ncity administration announced its decision to build a subway
\ntransportation system to link Blok M to Kota in the downtown area
\nlast week.<\/p>\n
Such a reaction is understandable given the fact that it took
\nthe government 30 years to make the decision from the time the
\nidea of a mass rapid transit system was first proposed for
\nJakarta in the 1965-1985 city master plan.<\/p>\n
It is not fair to compare Jakarta with other capitals -- even
\nwith neighboring Singapore -- which have long relied on subways
\nfor mass transit. However, we can argue that the period between
\nthe initial presentation of the proposal and the moment the
\ngovernment reached its decision was unusually lengthy.<\/p>\n
Theoretically, every city with a population of over two
\nmillion must have a mass rapid transit system which is cheap,
\nnon-polluting and can carry at least 40,000 passengers to a given
\ndestination per hour. Today Jakarta, whose population exceeds 10
\nmillion, relies mainly on a road network dating back to the pre-
\nWorld War II system designed to serve the needs of a population
\nof no more than 300,000 to 400,000 people.<\/p>\n
The city's inability to provide an efficient and reliable
\npublic transportation system has contributed to the uncontrolled
\ngrowth in the number of privately owned vehicles. Official
\nrecords show that as of today, no less than 1.5 million motor
\nvehicles are registered in the city. Meanwhile, there are only
\n3,500 large and 4,800 medium-sized buses, as well as
\napproximately 10,000 mikrolet (mini-vans), 17,900 taxis and
\n15,100 bajaj, in operation to serve the huge number of commuters.<\/p>\n
The result is serious congestion and people have started to
\nworry Jakarta may become like Bangkok, where traffic jams have
\nnot only caused inefficiency, pollution and stress, but have also
\nmade foreign investors think twice before making any decision to
\ndo business in the Thai capital.<\/p>\n
The explanation behind the length of time taken to make the
\ndecision is that to build an mass rapid transit system -- in this
\ncase a subway -- is costly for Jakarta and the city
\nadministration simply does not have the means to bring the dream
\nproject into reality.<\/p>\n
It is timely that the central government has realized the need
\nto take over tackling the problem before it gets any worse.
\nAlthough the subway will only link two areas in Jakarta, it will
\nserve the busiest traffic movement area in the capital. During
\npeak hours, an average of at least 20,000 cars pass along Jl.
\nSudirman alone. Of that number, 86 percent of those vehicles are
\nprivately owned cars, 11 percent freight vehicles and a mere 2.6
\npercent public transportation vehicles.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, the construction of the 10-kilometer subway,
\nestimated to cost US$1 billion, will not start until 1997. And
\neven now that the decision has been made, there is no guarantee
\nthat everything will run smoothly. Experts have warned that
\nbuilding a subway in Jakarta will not be easy. For one thing, 70
\npercent of the city is prone to flooding. The lack of an adequate
\ndrainage system is fe
\nared to pose a serious problem of flooding in the subway system.<\/p>\n
These problems show that had the city administration, or the
\ncentral government, addressed the issue earlier they would have
\nbeen saved a lot of headaches, including providing such huge
\namounts of funds to build the transit system. This matter also
\noffers a valuable lesson to the city about the need to look as
\nfar as possible into the future to be able to anticipate the
\ndemands that economic and population growth present.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/subway-for-jakarta-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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