City toll road charges increased by Rp 500

JAKARTA (JP): Toll charges for city turnpikes have been increased by Rp 500 (22 U.S. cents) from today.

Sedans, jeeps, pick-ups and medium-sized trucks and buses are now charged Rp 3,000; large trucks and buses Rp 4,000 and articulated trucks Rp 5,000.

Public transport commuter vehicles, like public buses and employee buses, are charged Rp 2,000. Taxis are subject to the new sedan rates.

Consumers using monthly subscription tickets, which are 10 percent lower than regular fees, are subject to the increase when their subscription period expires.

The new rates were issued through presidential decree no. 46/1996 dated yesterday and made effective today.

This decree also established as a turnpike the roads linking East Ancol, Jembatan Tiga, Pluit and Tomang, and Grogol to the Pluit Junction.

The President yesterday officiated the 6.7-kilometer East Ancol-Jembatan Tiga road, and the 6.4-kilometer Pluit-Tomang road, both from North to West Jakarta.

The new rates come barely six months since the last 30 percent increase. They were announced by Bambang Sundjojo, the operational director of the state-owned PT Jasa Marga toll road firm.

He spoke to reporters before President Soeharto took a ride on the new road with Minister of Public Works Radinal Moochtar, the Director of the company which built the road, PT Citra Marga Nusaphala Persada (CMNP), Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana, and the rest of the entourage.

Bambang said the new rates are actually not an increase, but an adjustment given the additional length of the inner urban toll road which is now 48.5 kilometers.

Objections had been raised by councilors, legislators and the Indonesian Consumers' Foundation to CMNP's proposal of a Rp 500 toll hike.

However Bambang said the new rates are not too high.

"An increase is only permitted up to 70 percent of operational costs of vehicles using toll roads, while the new rates are only 40 percent of the operational costs," he said.

In response to whether the government can guarantee that toll rates will not increase for a certain period, Bambang said this is difficult to predict.

He only said that the government evaluates toll rates every two years, but said again that the new rates are because of the extended length of the toll road.

A councilor said earlier that the cost of building new turnpikes should be met from the operational profits of other toll roads.

But when asked to estimate the percentage of profits used for the new roads, and the percentage paid by consumers through the new rates, Bambang procrastinated.

Construction costs for the 13.13 kilometer road from Tanjung Priok to Jembatan Tiga are Rp 676 billion. Part of the road from Tanjung Priok to East Ancol was opened in October.

Bambang promised that Jasa Marga will install more signs to direct traffic along the new roads.

In her address, CMNP director Siti Hardiyanti promised better services for consumers "who are increasingly critical."

She said traffic between the Tanjung Priok port or Soekarno- Hatta International Airport and other parts of Greater Jakarta would now be lighter.

CMNP, she added, has provided a helicopter ambulance in case of accidents in places difficult to reach by vehicle.

She said the project was completed five months ahead of the 36-month schedule. (anr)

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