Greater Jakarta needs integrated transport plan

JAKARTA (JP): A plan for Greater Jakarta's transportation system is urgently needed to ensure the integration of various transportation modes, an expert said yesterday.

Budhy Tjahjati S. Soegijoko, who chairs the board of the Urban Regional Development Institute, said this was among the most important factors to be considered in the new city planning.

"City planning will not work without infrastructure for city transportation and water," Tjahjati, also deputy of foreign affairs at the National Development Planning Board, Bappenas, said.

She said the integration of private and public transport, railroads and nonrail modes, and also nonmotorized transport, needed to be made clear in a separate plan under city planning.

Therefore new proposals, such as the three-tier transport system, the subway and the integrated Manggarai transit terminal, should refer to a transportation plan, she said.

The transportation plan would have to cover Greater Jakarta. "It's very hard now to separate Jakarta from Bogor, Tangerang and Bekasi," she said.

The city is now revising the 1985/2005 city planning, which will become the 1985/2010 city planning.

Tjahjati said she has been consulted occasionally by the city on the revision of the city planning.

Deputy Governor for Economic and Development Affairs Tb. Rais said earlier that new projects would likely be covered in a document accompanying the revised city planning.

Tjahjati said the revised city planning would hopefully lead to better transportation coordination between Jakarta and its surrounding areas.

But she added it was only late last year when the government and large scale developers agreed to make a master plan for Greater Jakarta. But to her knowledge there has been no follow-up to the agreement, she said.

She said the meeting in which the agreement was reached was organized by the Urban Regional Development Institute, which was set up by a private foundation.

"The Jakarta administration should take the initiative to coordinate related departments (including West Java authorities) to draw up a master plan," she said.

Jakarta faced rising competition from megacities in the Asia- Pacific region, she said, and therefore should aim for efficiency.

"Transportation is the most important factor for efficiency," she said.

A few years ago the government had announced plans for a transportation authority for Jakarta, to include the municipality and several government bodies, such as the Ministry of Transportation, but nothing has been heard of since, she said.

Tjahjati further said that city planning would be meaningless without enforcement, such as the control of illegally issued permits.

She responded further to the issue of changes in land use, and the lack of insecurity felt by residents that their homes might have to make way for public or private projects.

Deputy Governor Tb. M. Rais had said changes could happen in view of developing interests, including the need for the city to raise investment.

"The important thing is that the city ensures that changes in land use, if necessary, does not disadvantage people. Solutions would have to be sought," she said.

Investors at least need to be guaranteed that before their return of investment, their businesses would not be affected by, for instance, sudden changes in land use. (anr)