Buses exempt from toll hike

JAKARTA (JP): Public transportation will be exempt from the planned increase in tolls so that the rise will not be an additional burden to the poor, an executive of a major toll operator said on Monday.

Frans S. Sunito, the head of the development and commercial department of PT Jasa Marga, said that the proposed increase would only affect private and commercial vehicles.

The State Ministry of Public Works announced on Feb. 16 a planned 25 percent increase in tolls on seven roads across the country due to increases in maintenance costs.

It said the increase was set to take effect on the Jagorawi, Jakarta-Cikampek and Jakarta-Tangerang toll road; West Java's Tangerang-Merak and Padalarang-Cileunyi toll roads; East Java's Surabaya-Gempol and Surabaya-Gresik toll road; and the Belawan- Medan-Tanjung Morawa toll road in North Sumatra. (07)