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)