New road named after Aceh Aceh hero

JAKARTA (JP): Governor Surjadi Soedirdja officially named a new artery road-- which starts at the elite Pondok Indah elite housing complex -- after an Acehnese hero, Sultan Iskandar Muda.

"This new road is aimed at easing the heavy traffic from South Jakarta, where the majority of Jakartans live, to Central Jakarta, where they work," said Surjadi.

Efforts to solve traffic problems are always fraught with difficulties, Surjadi said, especially because the number of new roads the government is able to build increases only by four percent a year while the number of vehicles grows by 14 percent.

Surjadi also blamed motorists for their reluctance to use alternative roads as one of the major causes of traffic jams.

"As a result, congestion on certain roads, especially main drags, are inevitable," Surjadi said.

The 2,877-meter-long and 30-meter-wide artery road, whose construction began in 1989, links Jl. Metro Pondok Indah with Jl. Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta, said Darbono, a South Jakarta public works official.

He added that the artery is part of a 26-kilometer road linkage, starting from Pondok Pinang, South Jakarta, over Pejompongan and Dukuh Atas, Central Jakarta, to Manggarai, Jl. Matraman, Jl. Pramuka and Jl. Pemuda, East Jakarta. (06)