Jasa Marga asks motorists not to stop on toll roads

The Jakarta Post Jakarta

Toll road operator PT Jasa Marga, which oversees the Jagorawi toll road, has been distributing leaflets to motorists, asking them not to stop in the emergency lane to buy merchandise from vendors.

"Stopping along the toll road has caused many accidents," said head of PT Jasa Marga Jagorawi toll road, Subakti Syukur, on Sunday, as quoted by Antara.

He said that vendors often reacted aggressively to his officers when they were warned and even threw stones at patrolling vehicles.

The number of vendors during the holidays could reach 100, while on regular days there were only around 70. They usually operate between the kilometer 34 and kilometer 37.5 mark.

"Besides distributing leaflets, we are also ticketing motorists who stop at the shoulder of the road for violating Article 61(1) of the Traffic Law," said chief of the toll road patrol, Comr. Rahmadi.

PT Jasa Marga plans to set up a stalls along a stretch of 1.2 kilometers to accommodate vendors on the left and right side of the toll roads in Sentul area, Bogor.

"We have allocated Rp 3 billion (US$352,941) for the construction of the stalls and also for building canals along the road from Taman Mini to Cibubur in East Jakarta. The proposal for the canal construction was just submitted to the central office," Subakti said.

He also said that PT Jasa Marga Jagorawi office has allocated around Rp 35 million per month to assist the communities living along the toll road.

"The fund has been used by locals to finance religious and educational activities. There's also a fund for small-scale enterprises and cooperatives for locals," he added.

The Jagorawi operator earns around Rp 500 million from over 300,000 vehicles that use the toll road every day. Some 60 percent of the revenue is used to cover its operational costs.