City agencies to widen main roads, sidewalks

City agencies to widen main roads, sidewalks

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Jakarta Public Works Agency and Jakarta Park Agency will
jointly redesign Jl. Sudirman and Jl. Thamrin in Central Jakarta
by widening the roads and sidewalks.

Head of the public works agency Fodly Misbach said on Sunday
that the roads would be redesigned to overcome traffic problems
compounded by the busway, which was launched on Jan. 15.

The Rp 15 billion (US$1.79 million) project aims to widen the
fast lane of Jl. Sudirman and Jl. Thamrin into three lanes and
the one busway corridor, without felling any trees. Currently,
the fast lane comprises two lanes and the busway corridor.

"The project will kick off in March and is expected to finish
in May," he said, as quoted by Antara.

The width of each lane will be reduced from three meters to
2.75 meters, while the width of the median strip between the fast
and slow lanes will be reduced on either side by 1.5 meters.

"The narrower lane will still be wide enough for vehicles to
pass through at an average speed of 60 kilometers per hour,"
Fodly said.

He promised that no trees in the median strip would be cut
down. "The project will only move the edge of the road closer to
the trees."

Earlier this week, the TransJakarta Busway management said it
planned to add executive-class buses that would stop at a single,
designated shelter along the 12.9-kilometer route from Blok M,
South Jakarta, to Kota, West Jakarta. This means that the
executive buses must be able to overtake regular busway buses,
but the current corridor is not wide enough to accommodate this.

Fodly said plans for Jl. Thamrin would be slightly different,
as it would follow the park agency's program to widen sidewalks.

Park agency head Sarwo Handayani said the agency was reviewing
the need to cut down trees to support the project and added that
it would plant 10 trees in other areas for each tree cut down.

The project will begin in May with the widening of the
sidewalk in front of Hotel Indonesia.

"We are finishing the design and will have a bid soon."

The agency is financing the project fully, as the hotel cannot
contribute to it; instead, the hotel will provide the land for
the construction.

The agency has been lobbying the managements of 30 buildings
on Jl. Thamrin since last year to widen the sidewalk, but so far
only Hotel Nikko, the Japanese Embassy and PT Plaza Indonesia
have agreed to the project.

Handayani said many of building managements objected to
providing land for the sidewalks and to finance the project, and
that they were skeptical of giving land for public facilities.

"Some of them are concerned with security, although we have
ensured them that the Jakarta Police would increase measures to
prevent crime on the street," she said.

The agency plans to widen the sidewalk to between five and
eight meters, from the current width 2.2 to 4.8 meters.

Handayani said each building management was welcome to design
its own sidewalk, but must consult the city administration on it.

In the mid-1990s, the administration had requested building
managements along the road to plant landscape gardens between the
buildings and the sidewalks. However, the bloody 1998 riots
prompted the managements to secure their buildings with fences.

Bylaw No. 7/1991 on buildings in Jakarta stipulates that
fences for non-residential buildings must be a maximum 1.5 meters
in height and allows the building to be seen from outside.