Doubt lingers on role of transportation council
M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
As the May deadline for the establishment of a bylaw-sanctioned City Transportation Council is nearing, public transportation operators and urban activists are concerned that the council would not be effective in resolving Jakarta's traffic problems.
Member of the Association of Land Transportation Owners (Organda) Gogo Manurung argued on Friday that Bylaw No. 12/2003 on transportation doesn't clearly stipulate the role of the council.
"I suspect that (the regulation) was made to allow the city administration to support its overpriced transportation projects by interfering with the council," Manurung remarked.
He doubted that the council could overpower the leviathan City Land Transportation Agency, which he said often played down criticism and complaints from public transportation operators and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
"During the planning stages of the monorail and busway projects, administration officials discussed the feasibility of the projects with us. But they left us to execute the projects... the same thing could happen with the council," he added.
The bylaw, which was endorsed in December, orders the governor to establish the independent council within six months. Members of the council should comprise of transportation experts, scholars, officials, police, public transportation operators and crews, NGOs and passengers, according to the bylaw.
The bylaw states that further guidelines on the role of the transportation council would be issued by the governor.
The bylaw also enables the city administration to play a significant role in planning the railway system, which to date has been the role of the central government.
Suhud of the Jakartans Coalition for Transportation (Kawat) asserted that if the planned council was merely entitled to play an advisory role, it would only waste taxpayers' money.
"It has to be crystal clear whether recommendations from the council would be legally binding for each and every policy on public transportation. Otherwise the budget to finance the council would be of no use," he said.