Blocking access to the airport

Blocking access to the airport

PT Angkasa Pura II, the company that manages Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, has the legal right to close the M1 gate on the public road leading to the airport for security reasons.

However, the road where the M1 gate is located also functions as a shortcut for motorists who need to go to the area surrounding the airport. For those who work in North and West Jakarta, too, the M1 gate has been very convenient.

The M1 gate was erected especially to help those who work and conduct daily business in the airport complex. Ojek, or motorcycle taxi drivers, have been operating near the gate since then.

However, the generosity of the airport authority to open the gate to public has disappeared after a bomb exploded at the airport a couple of weeks ago, and has caused serious problems for the surrounding community.

PT Angkasa Pura II should have calculated the impact the closure of the gate -- which has provoked anger among locals, including ojek drivers -- would have on the surrounding community before making such a decision.

-- Warta Kota, Jakarta