Bogor to fell old trees to ease traffic congestion
Theresia Sufa, The Jakarta Post, Bogor
In a bid to ease the severe traffic congestion around the Plant Conservation Center of the Bogor Botanical Gardens, the Bogor municipal administration will cut down several old trees later this month to build an underpass and a parking lot.
Head of the Bogor Land Transportation Agency, Dody Rosadi, said that four 20-year-old Angsana trees, a 60-year-old Damar (Agrathis alba) tree and a 30-year-old acacia tree would have to be cut down to make way for the construction of a pedestrian underpass, a parking lot for 50 buses and a gate to the gardens.
The project will cost Rp 7.6 billion (US$894,117.65) and will be financed from the state budget.
Dody explained that the 5,000-square-meter bus parking lot will be constructed next to a building donated by the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB) alumni association in the Baranangsiang area.
Buses heading to the gardens will exit the toll road and head to Jl. Pajajaran, U-turn at Tugu Kujang and drive along Jl. Cidangiang before entering the parking lot. The buses can access the toll road directly as Jl. Cidangiang will be widened, for which the four Angsana trees will be felled.
As for the pedestrian underpass, the construction will start from the IPB campus, cross Jl. Pajajaran and enter the gardens. For this purpose, the damar and acacia trees will be cut down.
IPB students staged a protest on Friday at the campus' sports field, protesting the project. They demanded that the construction be halted.
IPB Students Executive Board chairman Eka Setiawan Karim said that although the IPB management must self-finance educational activities on campus, as stipulated in Government Regulation No. 154/2000 on the status of the Bogor Institute of Agriculture as a state-owned incorporated entity, it must also take procedures and asset usage into consideration.
Siswadi, a lecturer at the School of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, said the institute needed Rp 18 million annually from each student, but currently charged a tuition of only Rp 10 million per student.
"With such a deficit, must we sacrifice our campus for a parking lot? I prefer to take my students out to sell seeds of rare plants instead of making money from parking fees," he said.
He called on the IPB management to arrange a master plan that was best suited to the institute's needs and make it public.
The students' protest was refuted by IPB spokesman Agus Lelana, who said the institute would support the administration's effort to ease congestion in the area.
"The construction of the pedestrian underpass, which will encroach on part of the campus, will not change the campus, which is a historical site," he said.
According to a Bogor resident, the plan would not benefit the public in any way. Ahmad Dudung, 50, a resident of Tanah Sareal subdistrict who passes the area on his way to work, said the construction of a bus parking lot would only move the traffic congestion from one place to another.
"Even without those buses during school or year-end holidays, this area has always been congested," he said.