Busway boy Sutiyoso calls for sacrifice
Busway boy Sutiyoso calls for sacrifice
Urip Hudiono, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Speaking from a podium with a traffic jam in the background in
the middle of heavy rain on Thursday, Governor Sutiyoso called on
the capital's better-off citizens to make sacrifices for those
from the lower-bracket income by supporting his ambitious busway
project.
"I realize that the busway project shows that we are taking
the side of the 'little people'. Therefore, I call on the rich to
sacrifice for them by leaving your vehicles at home and taking
the busway," he said, to the applause of more than 200 people
gathered at the South Plaza of the Bung Karno Sports Complex in
Senayan, Central Jakarta.
The governor -- speaking at the launch of the busway system
that stretches from Blok M in South Jakarta to Kota in West
Jakarta and operates from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. -- expressed concern
that by 2014 traffic would come to a standstill throughout
Jakarta if the rich kept buying new cars.
"Every day Jakartans buy 138 new cars while the length of the
roads is reduced by 800 meters," he said, adding that around
600,000 vehicles from cities around Jakarta like Tangerang,
Bekasi, Bogor and Depok entered the capital every day.
"The extended and expanded three-in-one traffic policy from 7
a.m. to 10 a.m. and from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. along the busway
corridor is the least that you can do (the rich)," he said.
Sutiyoso said that the Jakarta macro transportation system
would materialize by 2010. The program consists of 14 busway
corridors, a monorail connecting Tangerang in the west and Bekasi
in the east, a subway connecting the southern part of Jakarta to
the north and river transportation.
"In the future, people living in Greater Jakarta will use mass
rapid transportation to reach their workplace in the capital," he
said.
Sutiyoso said that the busway was meant for the middle and
lower-income citizens of Jakarta and therefore he would not force
the rich to take the busway.
"If you still think the busway is not up to your standards, I
can't force you to use it. Just keep on using your own private
cars if you enjoy being trapped in congestion for hours," he
said.
The city administration allocated Rp 120 billion last year and
Rp 120 billion more this year for the busway project.
The construction of a monorail -- to be built by PT Indonesian
Transit Central and Malaysian partner company M Trans Holding --
will start this year and is expected to be completed in
two-and-a-half years with an investment of US$540 billion.