Doubt lingers on role of transportation council

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.