Bridge in Palembang may collapse due to excessive urination

Muhammad Uzair, The Jakarta Post, Palembang

The Palembang Transportation Office will soon reroute heavy vehicles from Ampera bridge to the Musi II bridge in the near future because a section of the Ampera bridge continues to slope at an angle and cause an inordinate amount of resonance during heavy traffic.

Head of the city's transportation office, Syaidina Ali said on Thursday that his office would soon redirect the traffic of cargo vehicles weighing more than one ton from the Ampera bridge.

He added that the irregular slant of the bridge had been confirmed by Professor Annas Ali, a highway and bridge expert at the public works office who conducted research on the bridge recently.

One of the reasons for the apparent structural deterioration was due to the frequency of people urinating on one of the steel pillars of the bridge, causing it weaken due to the corrosive forces of human urine.

"Try standing on the Ampera bridge. If the traffic passing on the bridge is heavy, you can feel it moving quite a bit," said Syaidina.

The 1,177-meter long and 22-meter wide bridge is one of the most vital bridges in Palembang connecting the upper and the lower part of the city. Besides being one of the main modes for commuting, the bridge is also one of the city's famous landmarks and a tourist attraction.

Head of the highway and bridge department at the Palembang Public Works Office, Azmi Lakoni, said that the office had not yet done research on the condition of the bridge.

"The office has not yet done thorough tests on the slant of the bridge, but we are concerned that one of its main support piers has been weakened by urine, as it is a popular spot for locals to relieve themselves," he said.

He explained that urine had high acidic levels and thus corroded the steel on the bottom of one of the two main piers, which could lead to a collapse of the bridge eventually.

Another problem that was pointed out was that people had stolen pieces of the bridge.

In 1998, when the country was simultaneously in a state of euphoria and confusion sparked by the reformasi movement, thieves were known to have dismantled some parts of the bridge. They climbed the tower and cut off several parts.

The Ampera bridge, built in April, 1962, after being approved by former president Sukarno. Funds for the construction came from the Japanese war reparations to Indonesia. The bridge was inaugurated in 1965 and was initially named the Bung Karno bridge.

However, following the political upheaval in 1966, when anti- Sukarno protests were strong, the name of the bridge was changed to Ampera (Amanat Penderitaan Rakyat or the Mandate of People's Pain). The Ampera bridge was renovated once, in 1981, at a cost of Rp 850 million following concerns that there were flaws in the original construction that cause it to collapse.