Floods around airport

Floods around airport

From Jayakarta

On Oct. 25, 1995 I wanted to pick up my husband at Soekarno-
Hatta Airport. I left Cawang at 7 p.m. and used the toll road
thinking that I would reach the airport in one or one-and-half
hours. But because of rains over the whole of Jakarta, heavy
traffic congestion was inevitable. Traffic jams occurred in
Slipi, Tomang and Pluit and also at the toll gate near the
airport. Yet I did not notice what had really caused the
congestion until later. Then I learned that floods at Pluit were
the main cause of the traffic jams.

I couldn't help wondering how Jakarta, as a metropolitan city,
could have frequent floods such as that. This is really bad
advertisement for Jakarta. Foreign as well as domestic air
passengers will take it for granted that Jakarta is notorious for
floods and traffic jams.

We should be ashamed of this phenomenon. Sophisticated
restaurants, hotels, etc. along the road between Pluit and Cawang
do not go well with floods. Come on Jakarta residents, let's do
something about it.

Name and address

known to editor