Councilors vow to fight for more funds for road repairs
Councilors vow to fight for more funds for road repairs
JAKARTA (JP): Two senior city councilors have vowed to fight
for more funds for road repairs in the capital in the 1999/2000
city budget, which starts on April 1.
Contacted separately by The Jakarta Post on Saturday, head of
Commission C for city revenue Amarullah Asbah and head of
Commission D for public works and development affairs Ali Wongso
Sinaga insisted that the great number of potholes and other
damage to roads in the capital needs urgent attention.
The two councilors pointed out that it would be appropriate to
raise the amount for roadwork in the upcoming city budget, which
is expected to be significantly increased.
The persistent problem of damaged roads has not only caused
losses to the capital's motorists but also to the city
administration.
Many motorists, for example, have had to spend extra money on
vehicular damage caused by roads in a state of disrepair. And by
putting off repair work, it will cost the city administration
more because the damage to roads is worsened every day by the
volume of traffic.
"To repair it later will of course take a lot of money. So,
it's already an urgent matter that more funds be allocated for
road repairs," Amarullah said, adding that the proposal is being
discussed with his colleagues in the commission.
Repairing image
According to Sinaga, a serious effort on the part of the city
administration to address the need to repair damaged roads is
aimed at repairing its tarnished image.
Jakartans, he said, view the administration's failure to
repair damaged roads as negligence.
"There's an image that the administration has no intention to
repair the roads and always uses the limited budget as an
excuse," Sinaga said.
"I haven't seen any road maintenance done by the city's public
works agency recently. So where do the funds (from the current
budget) go to?" he asked.
People, he said, understand that the current limited budget
has hindered the city administration in doing big projects, such
as fixing roads.
"But I think our budget is still enough for work like filling
in potholes to avoid the probability of them becoming bigger,"
Sinaga said.
In the 1998/1999 budget, Rp 6.54 billion is allocated to road
and bridge maintenance and Rp 8.92 billion for infrastructure
development.
Public works agency data shows that about 600,000 square
meters, or 29 percent of the 20.56 million square meters of city
thoroughfares, are in disrepair.
Data from 1996 states that the city is home to 2.7 million
vehicles, excluding those of the Armed Forces and diplomats. The
number consists of one million motorcycles, one million private
cars and 700,000 public transportation vehicles.
Among the thoroughfares which have dangerous potholes and
bumps in the road include the city's main streets, such as Jl.
Sudirman, Jl. Imam Bonjol, Jl. H.R. Rasuna Said, Jl. M.H. Thamrin
and Jl. Gatot Subroto.
Amarullah also suggested that the city administration use part
of the Rp 85.95 billion flood relief program to immediately
repair roads.
"It has become our habit to neglect small things. The public
works agency ought to do repair work immediately after finding a
road in disrepair.
"Not like now when we can see that many roads are full of
potholes," he said.
Last week, deputy chairman of the Indonesian Consumers
Foundation Agus Pambagio and city councilors Afif Hamka and Saud
Rahman said that damaged roads were sufficient grounds to sue the
administration as it is in charge of the facilities.
The idea, however, was opposed by other councilors.
"We don't need to go that far," Amarullah said. (ind)