Jakarta's traffic woes

Public transportation conditions in this city of at least nine million are still most appalling. As a consequence, people prefer to use their own private means of transport. Another problem is that public activities are still mostly concentrated around the center of the city. Almost all of Jakarta's major business and commercial centers, shopping malls, offices and entertainment centers are found in the central parts of the city. The result is that the flow of traffic, too, is concentrated in this area.

In addition, the number of vehicles continues to grow at a pace which is disproportionate to the increase in roads. Here, however, little can be done since the density of the city's population puts limits on further road construction. At the same time, it would be unfair to discourage people from possessing cars, especially when the people in question have never had the chance to own one before.

For those reasons, the only option that remains is to try to achieve two of the most basic preconditions for improvement -- a better public transportation system and a better distribution of centers of activity across a wider area of the city.

The first step is apparently being undertaken, among other projects, by the planned construction of a subway system and a triple-decker elevated road system. There still seems to be no effort, however, to scatter the major centers of activity wider across the city. Shopping malls are still being built in Jakarta's city center, including the huge Kuningan complex now being planned in South Jakarta.

It would be better if new centers of public activity could be located in the suburbs. It seems, however, that the preference of investors is defeating ideal city planning principles.

-- Republika, Jakarta