Jakarta city of cars is bursting at its seams

Jakarta city of cars is bursting at its seams

By Rita A. Widiadana and Stevie Emilia

JAKARTA (JP): Start looking for environs far from Jakarta if
you cannot stand winding traffic jams, being squashed cheek to
jowl with others on fetid public buses and pollution which ranks
among the worst on the globe.

With 9.8 million people at night and 12 million during the
day, Jakarta is literally bursting at its seams. Yet its myriad
problems do not dissuade the hundreds of thousands of people who
come to the city to try their luck. True, there are great working
opportunities in the metropolis, but the job seekers far
outnumber the job openings.

Aris Ananta, a professor at the University of Indonesia's
Demographic Institute, says urban dwellers now have ample choices
to work in the city's outskirts where industry has grown rapidly,
including Tangerang in the west and Bekasi in the east. Low-
skilled laborers including maids also find lucrative jobs in new
housing complexes in the neighboring satellite towns.

"It is just a natural selection process in the employment
world in such a metropolis," Ananta said. "In the future, Jakarta
will only be home to more sophisticated industries which require
highly skilled workers."

He predicted that people may find the city no longer
attractive, and will move to the outskirts or other areas to seek
a better quality of life. This would probably benefit Jakarta by
curbing the urbanization rate.

This is what is actually happening now and the trend is likely
to continue, Ananta said. The most recent study of the
Demographic Institute, to be released in August, reveals that the
city's population growth rate as well as mortality rate has been
on the decline since l990. The urbanization growth rate is also
lower.

The growth rate dropped from 3.9 percent in 1980 to 2.4
percent in 1990. In 1995 it decreased further to 1.9 percent, he
said.

The urbanized population of Greater Jakarta grew at an average
annual rate of 5.9 percent from l980-l990.

The combined population of Greater Jakarta is now put at about
15 million. The population is expected to triple by the 2020.

The city center used to have a high population density but it
has declined since in the 1990s. According to World Bank data,
density in Central Jakarta averaged around 42,000 residents per
square kilometer in l980. But in the l990s, with the declining of
population growth rate, the city's density fell to only 22,000
per square kilometer. Part of the explanation for the drop lies
in the large scale land clearance for the construction of office
buildings.

Density changes have direct and dramatic consequences for
urban development. High density accentuates negative spatial
externalities such as the noise and waste byproducts of land
users, as they directly impinge on neighbors. As Jakarta's
central area densities decline, some environmental problems may
be alleviated.

"Due to the high mobility and stressful conditions in urban
Jakarta, more and more people want fewer children and are having
a small family," Ananta said.

He said chances to create more qualified citizens in term of
education and better health care access was greater when people
have a small number of offspring.

"Compared to other cities in Indonesia, Jakarta will be ready
to supply highly skilled human resources in facing the 21th
century," Ananta said.

Better health care and widespread access of city residents
create their own problems. Jakarta residents will likely live
longer, and the graying of the city will be a dilemma in itself.

Pollution

Despite the city's improving facilities, urban dwellers
sometimes bring problems upon themselves. A penchant for high
living, residing in polluted areas and putting stressful job
deadline before family life may lead both senior and productive
citizens to suffer from health problem.

Pollution can cause high blood pressure, respiratory symptoms
and affect the intellectual development of newborns.

"It will be alarming if Jakarta has an ailing population, as
it will certainly reduce productivity and increase health costs,"
he said.

He said Jakartans spend too many hours commuting to and from
work. "It is really a waste of money, time and energy."

To ease stress and to avoid traffic congestion, Ananta
suggested people start working from home. "Due to rapid
technological development, people can work from their residences.
This system is very popular in the West. Jakartans should
consider this idea profitable and viable."

Traffic

Traffic looms as the city administration's albatross, one of
the biggest headaches they face.

The spread of satellite cities in Jakarta's neighboring towns
of Bogor, Tangerang and Bekasi has further complicated traffic
and transportation problems, as the majority of their inhabitants
commute each day.

Many efforts have been implemented by the city administration
to solve lingering traffic problems. The three-in-one regulation,
applied in morning hours on some streets, stipulates that a
private vehicle should carry at least three people, including the
driver. New roads and flyovers are being constructed at a furious
pace.

Jakarta is expected to have eight more flyovers by the end of
this year. The city now has 17 flyovers.
The long-awaited Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) project is scheduled to
begin next year. The MRT could transport from 40,000 to 50,000
people between Blok M and Kota per hour.

Governor Surjadi Soedirdja admits that the city administration
is unlikely to solve the chronic traffic problems in the coming
years, as building of transportation networks cannot keep apace
with new vehicles coming onto the roads.

The city now has 2,165,200 vehicles, while the total length of
the capital roads reach only 5,907.95 kilometers.

Development

Budhy Tjahjati S. Soegijoko, who chairs the board of the Urban
Regional Development Institute, said a complete overhaul of the
city's public transportation system was the only option for
Jakarta if wants to maintain its position as a center of
administration and commerce.

A plan for Greater Jakarta's transportation system is urgently
needed to ensure the integration of various transportation modes.

"It is very hard now to separate Jakarta from Bogor, Tangerang
and Bekasi," Budhy explained. "The three neighboring towns have
virtually been incorporated into the capital city as a result of
Jakarta's rapid expansion."

She revealed that development cooperation programs between
Jakarta and neighboring West Java had not proceeded as smoothly
as expected because of conflicting interests, especially in the
transportation sector.

The city is now revising the l985/2005 city plan, which will
become the l985/2010 plan, in the hope that it would be the
facilitator of better transportation coordination between Jakarta
and its surrounding areas.

Water

Jakarta is also scrambling, and presently failing, to provide
clean water services to all its residents.

To maintain an adequate standard of livability, Jakarta needs
ample supplies of clean water. The city's water catchment areas,
however, lie outside city boundaries in the province of West
Java, where they are threatened by the unregulated construction
of villas and housing estates.

Djoko Sujarto, a professor of urban planning at Bandung
Institute of Technology (ITB), said that these new satellite
cities were once productive farmland that had been connected into
an irrigation network.

The professor explained the new townships have disturbed the
ecological balance of the surrounding areas, because they
eliminated zones previously used for water catchment and are
polluting water and air.

More areas are prone to floods. There is also overexploitation
at quarrying sites as developers excavate materials needed for
construction, he said.

Uniform aims and cooperation between the municipality and
neighboring West Java areas are needed to prevent further
environment destruction, Djoko added.

Wiyogo Atmodarminto, former governor of Jakarta, said
cooperation had been too weak because each region held its own
concept of development. As a result, development of West Java
regions bordering Jakarta, encompassing Bogor, Tangerang and
Bekasi or known by the acronym Jabotabek, have not been
compatible with the capital's development.

"Pak Surjadi or any other Jakarta governor would find it hard
to implement coordination with the West Java authorities," Wiyogo
said.

The administration of neighboring cities should support the
development of Jakarta as the republic's capital, he said.

In l990, the Greater Jakarta Coordination Board was
established as the borders between Jakarta and its neighboring
towns disappeared because of the expansion of the Indonesian
capital. Unfortunately, the board has been ineffective.

Former minister Emil Salim said Greater Jakarta was the most
important area to be considered for a higher level of management
in comparison to other provinces.

To enable better management and services of the capital, Emil
suggested one governor for Jabotabek holding ministerial
authority. Minister of Home Affairs Moch. Yogie S.M. rejected
Emil's proposal as "something which is not so viable" in the near
future.

Despite Yogie's pessimism, Emil's idea was applauded by some
of the country's leading urban planners, including M. Danisworo,
chairman of the city's Urban Design Review Boards.

Danisworo agreed that Jakarta should at least be governed by a
junior level minister who reports to the president and has access
to the cabinet, national utilities and public services, such as
the state-owned railway company.

"The condition of the sprawling metropolis and its new
satellite towns will deteriorate if preparations for central
planning do not start immediately," he said.

Despite its 470 years in existence, Jakarta is still burdened
by a magnitude of problems confronting it today and in the
future. These dilemmas beg the question whether the city of
Jakarta is ready to play a greater role as an international
growth center in Southeast Asia, one of the world's most dynamic
regions.