Planned integrated ducting system gains support

Planned integrated ducting system gains support

JAKARTA (JP): A councilor has hailed the city public works
office' plan to build an integrated ducting system for
underground utilities: including water, sewerage and gas pipes
and telephone and electricity cables.

Lukman F. Mokoginta, member of City Council Commission D for
development affairs, said yesterday it was time that Jakarta had
an integrated underground system although it was expensive.

"I know the project will cost a huge amount of money. However
the integrated system will be very useful in the future. There
will be more serious problems relating to underground utilities
if such an integrated system is not built now," he said.

A master plan for the integrated ducting system for Greater
Jakarta is needed, he said.

Lukman said that each agency had its own plans for underground
utilities, and that they did not coordinate them before
implementing their projects, causing problems.

Lukman said the existing underground utilities would have to
be demolished, disrupting traffic and damaging sidewalks, before
a new, integrated system could be built.

He said it would also be expensive to appropriate land for the
new utilities. The new ducts would have to be very large because
the water, gas and sewage pipes and telephone and electricity
cables would all run through them, he said.

The head of city public works office, Soeharto, announced the
plan on Tuesday, but said that detailed planning was still
underway.

Levies

Lukman said the ducting system could be funded by imposing
levies on the agencies using it: "A provincial decree instructing
all companies and agencies dealing with underground services to
use the duct would therefore preserve the investment."

"We are still studying the plan and hopefully the project can
start soon," he said.

Last year, Soeharto said that developing such a system was
estimated to cost around 60 percent of the public works' total
budget.

On Monday, the deputy governor for economic and development
affairs, Tb. M. Rais, said a better underground utility system
was needed to preserve the environment.

Jakarta is notorious for its messy underground utilities.
Sidewalks are often torn up to repair water pipes and install
telephone cables and other utilities. Pedestrians and motorists
in Jakarta frequently bemoan this. (yns)