JORR no solution to traffic nightmare in Greater Jakarta

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.