City plans to widen Jl. Thamrin's sidewalks
City plans to widen Jl. Thamrin's sidewalks
Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
There's no denying it: Pedestrians are treated as the lowest form
of life on the streets of Jakarta.
The 63,744-hectare metropolitan city, which is home to at
least 10 million people, does not provide spacious sidewalks on
its busy streets.
Head of the City Architectural Advisory Team Mohammad
Danisworo, who is also a lecturer at the Department of
Architecture, Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), says that
the width of sidewalks that is generally accepted by planners as
appropriate for most modern urban centers is a minimum of four
meters.
In comparison, the sidewalks along Jl. Thamrin -- one of
Jakarta's busiest thoroughfares where many modern office
buildings, hotels and shopping complexes are located -- are only
two meters wide. At several spots the effective width is only one
meter.
"If you observe Jl. Thamrin at peak hours, when workers are
heading to their offices or homes, people spill onto the road,"
he said earlier this week.
To make those sidewalks more humane, therefore, the city
administration has decided to expand the Jl. Thamrin sidewalks.
"But to widen them we cannot take the space from the road.
Instead, we are asking the owners of the buildings to let us use
some of their property in the public interest," he said.
The city administration summoned some of those owners earlier
this month to explain the pedestrianization project to the
public.
"This is our third attempt. The first was in 1997, but the
project was hampered by the economic crisis at that time," he
said.
The second attempt also failed because the owners were
reluctant to give up some of their land and dismantle their
gates, walls and barriers -- due, mainly, to security concerns.
Rully Besari Budiyanti, a lecturer at the Department of
Architecture at Trisakti University, Jakarta, who opposes the
administration's decision to erect iron fences around Monas Park,
said that this time she could agree with the administration's
plan to pedestrianize Jl. Thamrin.
"I think that for the first time the administration is paying
attention to the public's needs," she said. But in Rully's view,
pedestrianization should not stop at Jl. Thamrin alone.
"Of course, sidewalks on busy streets such as Jl. Thamrin are
the most urgent. But I hope the administration does not stop
there and pour the whole budget that is available into Jl.
Thamrin alone," she added.
Rully knows what she is talking about: She researched the
matter and asked 250 pedestrians their views about sidewalks in
West Jakarta.
"Generally, they say that besides wider sidewalks, they also
need facilities on them, such as benches, trash cans, street
lamps, public telephones, toilets, plants and guard posts," Rully
said.
As for the security concerns of building owners, Danisworo has
an easy answer to counter their arguments. Many buildings in
Jakarta do not have tall gates and walls, yet they are still
safe.
"For example, the Danamon building on Jl. Sudirman does not
have any barriers at all. So far, it has never been harmed," he
said.
According to Danisworo, the city administration hopes that,
this time, the pedestrianization project can proceed without too
much opposition, either from lot owners or the public.
"Some building owners have already agreed to the project. The
Japanese Embassy is even willing to allow a five-meter strip of
its land to be used," said Danisworo.
"The administration is not trying to take over their land. We
are only borrowing it, while the ownership rights are still
securely in their hands. The administration will extend them
certain kinds of incentive, such as exemption from property and
land taxes on the land we use," said Danisworo.