Corruption and floods both contribute to damage roads
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Water is the greatest enemy of all asphalted roads, but blaming all road damage in the capital on the floods is ridiculous as technically certain damage could have been avoided, an expert said.
Chairman of the University of Indonesia (UI)'s Center for Transportation Studies Sutanto Soehodho said it was unfair to blame all the road problems on the floods as many other factors could also damage them.
"Other significant factors which cause road damage in the capital actually have become a public secret like lower road quality and bad road design," Sutanto told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
Sutanto was commenting on the damaged sections of roads in the city that have been blamed by many, including the Department of Public Works (PU), on the recent flood, which inundated most parts of the capital recently.
Each section of road, said Sutanto, was designed to be of a certain quality and projected lifetime, considering various aspects like the weight of the vehicles that pass through it.
But almost all road construction contractors reduce the quality (of materials and construction) due to poor control by government officials, many of whom are bribed just to overlook the inferior quality, said Sutanto, who is also chairman of UI's Civil Engineering Department.
Similar criticism was voiced by Abbas Salleh, a member of the Jakarta City Council's Commission D for development affairs, saying that rampant corruption contributed to the rapid deterioration and damage to roads in the capital.
"There are four main reasons for road damage. The first is water, the second is water, the third is water, and the fourth is the contract project leaders," he said jokingly.
Sutanto further said as water was the greater enemy of the asphalt roads, the roads should be designed so that there were no puddles on the road, therefore a good drainage system was vital for any asphalt road.
He explained that all roads should be designed with a certain declivity so that the water could flow directly into the drains during the rainy season.
"Unfortunately, many roads do not have a good drainage system and were not designed with a certain declivity, therefore it is not surprising to see many roads have been damaged during the current rainy season," he added.
Jakarta PU head IGKG Suena said that around 70 percent of the roads in Jakarta had experienced serious damage.
Among the roads are Jl. Fatmawati and Jl. Kebayoran Lama in South Jakarta; Serong Ancol Bridge and Latumenten Bridge in North Jakarta; Simatupang Bridge in West Jakarta and Jl. Cibubur Raya in East Jakarta.
At a recent hearing with City Council' Commission D, PU revealed it needed Rp 286.17 billion in funds to repair the damaged roads and bridges in the capital including those caused by the floods.
The 2002 budget only allocates Rp 210.32 billion for road repairs, while the department will need an additional fund of Rp 75.85 billion. But the council refused to approve the proposal, saying the agency should use the available fund efficiently.
Sutanto proposed the establishment of the independent road control agency which should be tasked to supervise the quality of roads.
He said such an independent team, whose members should neither be officials from PU nor contractors, was needed to minimize collusion between road contractors and the government officials concerned.