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.

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