City councilors blast shoddy road conditions

City councilors blast shoddy road conditions

JAKARTA (JP): City councilors yesterday questioned the quality
of many of the city's roads which had not held up after being
soaked by incessant rains over the past few months.

They also urged the city administration to take immediate
action to prevent them from deteriorating into dirt roads.

"It is hard to believe that merely a temporary rainstorm could
impair roads. New roads which deteriorate soon after being
exposed to rains reflect their substandard quality," M.H.
Ritonga, the chairman of the City Council, was quoted as saying
by the Antara news agency.

Currently, road links in some parts of the city are uneven and
lined with potholes. These include Jl. Malaka Raya and Jl. Buaran
Raya in East Jakarta, Jl. Tanah Pasir and Jl. Tanah Merah of
North Jakarta, and Jl. Kwitang and Jl. Kramat Raya, Central
Jakarta.

Ritonga said the city administration should not make a
scapegoat out of the rains. "I question not only the quality of
those damaged road links but also the quality of the contractors
who built them."

Ritonga did not rule out the possibility that the premature
damage to the roads may also have been caused by excessive
traffic which puts a heavier burden than that which the roads can
bear.

"If, however, that is to be taken as the cause, why then do
road links break down so easily after downpours of a mere two to
three hours?" Ritonga wondered.

A number of drivers who daily pass those roads complain that
the city administration has failed to address the problem
effectively and is not taking advantage of the dry season to
perform the necessary repair work.

A driver of a public Mikrolet minibus serving the route from
Kampung Melayu to Pondok Kelapa, East Jakarta, grumbled about the
severely damaged Jl. Malaka Raya and Jl. Buaran Raya.

"The damage was caused by trucks carrying soil for the
contractor building the campus of Darma Persada University in the
nearby area," Amir, the driver, said.

Amir's comment was fully supported by East Jakarta Mayor
Sudarsono, who said he would take action against the contractor
for failing to pay heed to the official warning against
overloading the trucks or operating them during rush hours.

Mansyur Akhmad, the head of the City Council's commission D on
public utility, suspected collusion between the city
administration's project leaders who cooperated with private
contractors in building roads.

"This surprisingly premature damage suggests that the roads
were not constructed in accordance with prescribed standards.
This would not have happened if the city administration had
applied tighter control," Mansyur said.

Mayor Sudarsono said his office could so far only perform
stopgap repairs while waiting for the end of the present rainy
season to do more thorough repair work.

According to Sudarsono, rains are not the only thing to blame.
Sudarsono, referring to the chronic damage of Jl. Malaka Raya and
Buaran Raya, said the amount and frequency of traffic on those
roads should also be held responsible.

Sudarsono said he has submitted a report to Governor Surjadi
Soedirdja about the damage to Jl. Raya Penggilingan, East
Jakarta, which fell apart not long after repair work was
completed.

"Apparently, the contractor of the road did a shoddy job," he
said, adding that he had also submitted the contractor's name to
the governor. (06)