A subway for Jakarta

A subway for Jakarta

Although many details still have to be worked out, Jakarta's
dream of finally getting a mass rapid transportation system to
relieve it of its perennial traffic woes appears to have come a
good step closer to becoming reality. As was reported, the
government this week gave the Indonesian-Japanese-European Group
(IJEG) consortium the go-ahead to start preparations for building
the US$2.2 billion subway project, which is to link South Jakarta
with the downtown Kota business district by means of a 14.5-
kilometer underground railroad system.

With the official approval obtained, negotiations are now set
to begin in order to work out details of the plan before actual
construction takes place. If all goes according to plan,
construction will begin in June and be completed by 2001, in time
to add luster to the 56th anniversary celebrations of Indonesia's
independence. Obviously, the news comes as a relief for the
millions of Jakartans who at present suffer the daily ordeal of
traffic jams or having to commute to work on the city's miserable
public transportation system.

The hope now is that no further snags will hamper the project.
By any measure, building a subway system for Jakarta is no small
undertaking. Initial negotiations were reportedly protracted due
to financing. But putting the immense cost aside, the technical
problems that may arise in carrying out a project of this
magnitude in an overcrowded city of more than nine million
people, and one that is partly built on what used to be
marshland, can only be imagined.

A complete overhaul of the city's public transportation system
is the only alternative for Jakarta if it is to maintain its
position as a center of administration, commerce and
communication. Simply widening the roads, or even building new
ones, or limiting traffic during certain hours in some areas of
the city, are mere stop-gap measures that will not solve the
problem in the long run, as past experience has shown.

At this stage, the authorities should start thinking about
informing the public of how all this is going to affect them. The
plan, for example, calls for the building of 18 stations along
the 14.5-kilometer route. How is its construction going to affect
buildings and structures located above them? Who is eligible for
compensation in the event that land has to be appropriated? What
other effects on personal comfort or daily routine can people
expect? In time, such questions may well arise, although it would
be premature at this stage to bother about such details.

It could be that the subway plan is not the only thing to
relieve Jakarta of its traffic problems. Little has been heard
lately of a plan to build a three-tiered road and elevated
railway system to link South Jakarta with the Kota business
district. One might wonder what the fate of this proposal could
be. Certainly, if such a system could provide practical and
feasible support to any of the existing systems, there is still
room for it as long as the basic considerations are sound.

But the best we can do now is wait and see how things will
work out and hope that a genuine solution to Jakarta's traffic
problems is in sight.