City may operate only mass transports

JAKARTA (JP): In an effort to curb congestion on the city's roads, the administration plans to have only three modes of public transportation operating in the future; large buses, taxis and underground trains, Governor Surjadi Soedirdja says.

"Eventually, other types of public transportation such as bajaj (motorized three-wheeled vehicle) and small-capacity buses will be eliminated from the city's streets," the governor said on Tuesday.

Small-capacity buses and other small public transportation vehicles will only operate on the outskirts of the city. "They will serve the routes from residential areas to bus terminals only," he said in a meeting with chiefs of subdistricts from all over Indonesia at City Hall.

He said traffic jams are a problem faced by many big cities in other countries such as Seoul and Bangkok.

"Congestion causes both material and non-material losses, therefore the Jakarta administration pledges to eliminate traffic jams," he said.

He said a study claims that US$1 billion is wasted every year because of traffic jams along Jl. Sudirman and Jl. Thamrin in Central Jakarta.

However, the city administration is unable to implement its plan in the near future because it does not have enough money for it, Surjadi said.

The city administration also plans to build more roads in the city because traffic jams are also caused by the uneven growth between roads and the number of vehicles, he said.

Roads increase by 4 percent per year while the number of vehicles grows by 14 percent per annum. Currently there are 2,165,200 vehicles in the city, 700,000 of which are public transportation vehicles.

According to data from the City Development Planning Board the city administration built 111 kilometers of roads from 1988 to 1994.

The total length of roads in the city until 1994 was 5,907.95 kilometers, discounting toll roads.

In 1997 the city administration will start the construction of an underground railway from Blok M in South Jakarta to Kota in West Jakarta.

The construction cost of the 14.5-kilometer subway is estimated to reach $1.5 billion. (yns)