Jakartans are wasting time and energy

Jakartans are wasting time and energy

JAKARTA (JP): Inhabitants of Jakarta waste time and energy in
traffic jams, in polluted areas and just trying to get a clear
telephone line.

Life is expensive, people are tense, expectations are high,
and the public services and infrastructure are ill-suited.

"Jakartans expect roads to be smooth and free of congestion;
when trying to make a telephone call they expect to make
immediate contact," said Ruslan Diwiryo, the secretary-general of
the ministry of public works.

Speakers at a one-day national seminar on urban infrastructure
discussed the challenges of making infrastructure use more
efficient.

Minister Radinal Moochtar said infrastructure development must
increasingly focus on the groups it intends to serve, and the
function of the particular city in which it is located.

"Cities must increasingly function as efficient centers of
services and industry to be able to compete in the global
market," Radinal said.

The challenge will become greater as more people move to the
city. It is estimated 52 percent of the population, or 145
million people, will live in cities in the near future.

Radinal said there will be 14 cities with populations of more
than one million. Greater Jakarta is currently home to around 15
million people.

The talks were held by the Ministry's Analysis Center for the
Development of Public Works and the United Nations Center for
Regional Development.

Organizers said they aimed to record the aspirations of the
public and private sector regarding infrastructure development.
The talks were also part of preparations for an international
expert panel on urban infrastructure development to be held here
on June 21 and June 22.

Johan Silas, an architect from Surabaya, East Java, said urban
infrastructure development can no longer ignore a city's
characteristics and human factor.

With electronic communications growth causing the need for
less space, "what is more important for humans is no longer
performance, but products," he said.

"The form and role of large cities like Jakarta will fade and
become less dominant," he added. Massive urbanization is outdated
and leads to pollution and tension.

Johan said Jakarta's kampong improvement programs are
ineffective because residents are forced to move out by misguided
road building projects.

"The wide roads built for cars attract the middle class," he
said, making land prices soar, living costs increase, and then
the better-off buy up surrounding land.

These developments show "a poor understanding" of the program
recognized in 1992 by the World Bank as beneficial, Johan told
The Jakarta Post. (anr)