Council demands M1 alternative

TANGERANG: The Tangerang municipal council demanded that PT Angkasa Pura, operator of Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, seek an alternative security measure instead of closing the M1 airport gate.

The council's Commission D chairman, Waisulkorni Mufti, said on Tuesday that the airport management should have prepared a solution that would not disrupt the residents' daily routines.

He said many Tangerang residents who commute to Jakarta used the airport tollway as a shortcut to their offices, but since gate M1 was closed to the public on May 22, they must go through Jl. Daan Mogot.

He said the council understood that the closure was part of efforts to improve airport security following a bomb blast last month, but the closure had resulted in increased traffic congestion on Jl. Daan Mogot.

Separately, Indra Setiady, a resident of the Taman Kutabumi housing complex in Pasar Kemis, said that he usually left home at 5 a.m. everyday to get to work, and by using the road through gate M1 he usually arrived at his office by 7 a.m.

"But since the airport gate was closed, I have to go by Jl. Daan Mogot and get to my office two hours late, at 9:00 a.m.," he said. -- JP