JP/3/ROAD

JP/3/ROAD

Road buildings not best solution to traffic woe

JAKARTA (JP): The traffic problem in Jakarta faces a long and
winding road, and now a leading non-governmental organization is
criticizing the government's policies on the problem as
counterproductive.

An official of the Ministry of Public Works stressed yesterday
that in a bid to solve the traffic problem, the government has
aggressively added to the roads, with 50 interchanges now under
construction.

Dargono Danuprawiro said that this construction does not come
cheap. Rp 2 trillion (approximately US$1 billion) will be spent
on new roads through 2005.

PIJAR, an NGO known for its social activism, believes that
this massive investment could actually make a bad situation
worse.

Endi Martono, head of PIJAR's legal bureau, yesterday blamed
traffic jams on the growing number of private cars and called for
improvements in mass transit to fight the problem.

"The road development policy will encourage people to drive
their own cars, whereas the people have no comfortable public
vehicles as an alternative," Endi stated, referring to the
erratic public transportation system.

Another interchange at Penjaringan will be finished in time
for the Air Show 1996, scheduled to be held at the Soekarno-Hatta
International Airport in Cengkareng, West Java.

The show is a project of the Minister of Research and
Technology B.J. Habibie, who is also the head of the state-owned
aircraft industry (IPTN) in Bandung, West Java.

According to Endi, whose organization demanded that the
current Minister of Transportation resign following the tragic
train crash in West Java last November, the government should
spend the money on expanding and improving the rail system.

"Developing more roads will not help while there are not
enough public vehicles. It merely prompts the banks to give
credit to people to purchase autos," he said.

Endi stressed his belief that any increase in the number of
roads will be far outstripped by the sales of new cars in the
city.

He suggested the government discourage people from using
private cars and simultaneously increase the number of public
vehicles.

Dargono was quoted by Antara as saying that traffic management
will be useless if the people themselves are not disciplined on
the road.

The official added that the government will implement one-way
traffic on as many streets as possible to reduce traffic.

"He is on the right track to trail Bangkok," Endi commented,
referring to Bangkok's one-way traffic policy, which has been
proved to worsen the traffic condition. (09)