JORR no solution to traffic nightmare in Greater Jakarta
Novan Iman Santosa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Transportation experts have played down the possibility that the Jakarta Outer Ring Road (JORR) toll road project will be able to resolve Jakarta's traffic problems in the absence of an integrated transportation scheme incorporating a Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system.
Interviewed separately, transportation experts Alan Marino and Milatia Kusuma told The Jakarta Post last Friday that the JORR project would only provide more options to residents without providing a real answer to Jakarta's transportation problems.
"To some extent, the project is a good one as it offers more choices to drivers to reach parts of the city without having to enter the center of Jakarta or the existing toll road network," said Alan, a lecturer at the University of Indonesia.
"Residents who live in the Lebak Bulus, Cileduk and Jatiasih areas will be able to reach Soekarno-Hatta Airport, for example, faster than by using the existing toll road.
Milatia, who is the chairwoman of the Indonesian Transportation Society (MTI)'s Jakarta chapter, admitted the project would increase accessibility from one point in the city to another.
"The project will indeed improve accessibility but at the same time generate new traffic. This will then become an additional problem.
"It cannot automatically reduce traffic congestion as the problem does not relate to whether a toll road is there or not.
"We must shift the traffic burden from private cars to public transportation."
Jakarta has four million cars and motorbikes using its 6,500 kilometers of roadway. In addition, there are 5,411 large buses, 4,981 medium-sized buses and 11,848 public minivans.
According to Milatia, a private car could carry four to six passengers on average. Meanwhile, a public bus could hold up to 50 passengers.
Alan said unless there were better options, city residents would keep choosing to use the toll roads even though the situation was already deteriorating.
"Ideally, drivers should be able to choose whether to use regular highways or the toll roads. But most of the time, the toll roads are the only option to reach a certain place.
"This has created a huge opportunity for Jasa Marga to always reap profits from their toll roads without having to improve their services."
"On the other hand, it is the responsibility of regional administrations to provide better quality highways so that drivers will have more options.
"There is an average of more than 100,000 vehicles traveling daily from Depok, West Java, to Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta, a figure that demands close coordination between the relevant local administrations," he said.
The government through its toll road operator PT Jasa Marga announced last Monday the contractors who are to finish the construction of the four sections of the JORR in the southern and eastern part of the city at a total cost of Rp 293.7 billion.
PT Modern Widya Technical will construct the 2.3-kilometer Pondok Pinang-Veteran section at a cost of Rp 84.5 billion, while the 1.7-kilometer Veteran-Ulujami section will be built by state- owned PT Hutama Karya at a cost of Rp 61.6 billion.
In the eastern part of the city, another state-owned construction company, PT Waskita Karya, will continue the construction of the 1-kilometer Taman Mini-Ceger section at a cost of Rp 38.3 billion, while PT Yasa Patria Perkasa will construct the 3-kilometer Ceger-Hankam Raya section at a cost of Rp 109.3 billion.
The construction work is all due to start in early September and expected to be finished in 2003.
Several JORR sections are already in operation while other sections of the project are to be constructed in the 2003 to 2006 period.
Both Alan and Milatia stressed that the toll road project in itself would not solve the traffic problems here without an integrated transportation scheme.
Malitia pointed out, for example, that the present public transportation system in Jakarta was not based on a clear hierarchy as large buses and medium-sized buses served overlapping routes.