Big puncher Ali called in to rumble in city jungle

Big puncher Ali called in to rumble in city jungle

Muninggar Sri Saraswati and Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono consulted former governor Ali
Sadikin on Monday over a proposal to place Jakarta, Bogor,
Tangerang, Bekasi, Depok and Puncak under one ministry to boost
coordination between the capital and its satellite cities.

Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso said after the meeting that Susilo
had promised to discuss the issue with the relevant authorities.

"The President has welcomed the idea and promised to follow up
with in-depth discussions with relevant ministers as well as
experts on the proposal," said Sutiyoso at the State Palace after
a meeting with the President.

Calls have mounted for the central government to assign a
special minister in charge of coordinating administrations in
Greater Jakarta by establishing a single management overseeing
the area, which includes Jakarta, Tangerang, Bekasi, Depok and
Puncak.

The capital had a special minister to control security affairs
in the city and areas bordering the capital during the leadership
of the nation's founding father Sukarno.

Sutiyoso was accompanied by former Jakarta governor Ali
Sadikin, who first floated the idea in the 1970s.

Ali, also considered to be the city's most popular governor.
initiated massive infrastructure projects in the capital, the
funds for which came partly from legal gambling businesses.

Sutiyoso has complained that many problems affecting areas in
Greater Jakarta have remained unresolved, such as transportation,
waste, housing, clean water supply and flood mitigation due to
the absence of strong coordination among the administrations
concerned.

"We can avoid a massive influx of 600,000 private cars every
day from areas outside the city if we could construct a public
transport system linking those outer suburban areas and the
capital," he said Monday.

At least three million commuters from satellite cities enter
the city to work every day, bringing the city's population to 12
million by day. By night, the city's population stands at nine
million.

Jakarta also wants Depok and Bogor to limit construction in
the upstream area to help prevent flooding in the capital and
Bekasi to share a garbage dump with the operation of Bantar
Gebang dump. The three cities are under the West Java province.

The capital also relies on Tangerang for its supply of clean
water, which is under the Banten province.

However, the Tangerang administration has opposed the idea,
arguing that the capital would benefit the most from the single
management.

It fears that the implementation of a single management would
undermine greater autonomy in the hands of regional
administrations to handle their own regions granted under the
Autonomy Law.

Sutiyoso said that in the meeting he also informed Susilo
about the a master plan, which had been made during the
administration of president Megawati Soekarnoputri and was now in
the hands of the State Secretariat.

"By the time president Megawati ended her term, she still had
not signed it. That's why we came to meet the President to inform
him about the proposed master plan," he said.