Councilors slam planned toll road rate increase

Councilors slam planned toll road rate increase

JAKARTA (JP): A city councilor has said that the proposed hike
in rates by the private company operating toll roads in Jakarta
was not popular.

Banjar Marpaung, chairman of the Commission D on development
affairs, said on Wednesday that the company must explain to the
public why it is proposing the hike.

"The company must tell the House of Representatives which
costs in the toll construction business have increased," Banjar
of the Golkar said.

"Personally I don't think the costs of sand, cement, wages and
land compensation have increased significantly in the last two
years," he said.

Banjar was responding to a statement of Minister of Public
Works Radinal Moochtar, who said Tuesday that a private toll
construction company had proposed toll increases by Rp 500 (US 21
cents).

The proposal from PT Citra Marga Nusaphala Persada will be
submitted to President Soeharto next month after a 6.8 km new
segment from Ancol Timur to Jembatan Tiga (Pluit) starts
operations.

Radinal said that if the rates are not increased, private
companies would be discouraged from investing in toll road
projects.

"Construction of new toll roads should not lead to increases
in toll rates," Banjar said.

Toll rates are used to pay for the operation and maintenance
of the existing highways and to provide a return on investment,
Banjar Marpaung, who chairs the commission in charge of
development affairs, said yesterday.

"Increasing tolls to raise funds after building another
segment of toll road is not right," Banjar said yesterday.

New financial resources should be sought for new projects. The
government-set toll rates already include profit projections.

If the legislators agree, he said, the government can decide
on the increase, which is subject to a presidential decree.

However the government should set minimum time limits as to
when toll rates can be increased, he said.

"Toll users should be assured that in a given time there will
be no increase in rates," he said.

YLKI

The Indonesian Consumers' Foundation noted Tuesday that an
increase of 30 percent was already imposed in October, followed
by an increase in transportation fares in April. Its chairperson
has said that the foundation is against the proposed toll hike.

Banjar said that toll users do not know why they should be
paying more, as there is no guarantee that the toll roads are
free of congestion.

Users feel that a freeway should be free of obstacles, he
said. But this is not the case, much as non-AC express buses are
not expressed.

Banjar and the City Council Deputy Chairman, Ismunandar, said
separately that without clarity on why toll rates should be
increased while congestion remains the same, the public will get
the impression that the government is dictated to by the private
sector.

Ismunandar, also an executive on the central board of the
Indonesian Democratic Party, lashed out at the proposal.

"I only ask: Do the toll roads belong to the company, the
public or the government? How come every time Citra Marga
Nusaphala Persada builds a new toll road and proposes a hike, the
government always gives its blessing?"

The government should care more about the public, he said.

In reaction to the proposal, an office worker who takes two
hours from Central Jakarta to get home to Bekasi, an area 30
kilometers east of Jakarta, said toll construction companies
should not only think of profit.

The Cawang - Jatibening toll road for which users pay Rp 500,
is clogged up by thousands of commuters living in various
complexes in Bekasi, particularly towards the toll gates, Sartika
said.

"It's very tiresome. The company should build more roads," she
said. (anr)