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)