Pramono Reveals Horrific Cakung Congestion Caused by Imbalanced Container Flow

Governor of DKI Jakarta Pramono Anung has revealed the cause of severe traffic congestion occurring along Jalan Raya Bekasi to Jalan Raya Cakung-Cilincing in East Jakarta. According to him, the congestion is triggered by an imbalance between the flow of imported containers entering Jakarta and empty containers for export. “The congestion occurs because the incoming and outgoing flows are not balanced. Currently, many containers filled with imports are entering Jakarta. However, empty containers for export have experienced a significant decline, resulting in queues everywhere,” Pramono said in Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta, Thursday (23/7/2026). To ease the congestion, Pramono has instructed the Head of the DKI Jakarta Transportation Agency to ensure empty containers are no longer parked on the roadside. As an alternative, the Jakarta Provincial Government has prepared the Tanah Merdeka Terminal as a buffer zone. “I have decided, I called the Head of the Transportation Agency, Mr Budi, last night and decided that we ask for empty containers not to be parked on the streets. No more parking on the streets. That is what causes the extraordinary congestion,” he said. Pramono stated that the Tanah Merdeka Terminal can accommodate more than 200 empty containers. To encourage its use, the Jakarta Provincial Government is providing a discretionary measure in the form of a temporary parking fee waiver. “So we are using Tanah Merdeka Terminal as a buffer zone. Because these are mostly empty containers, they do not want to pay distribution costs. Therefore, from 22 July to 5 August, the DKI Jakarta Provincial Government is providing a discretionary fee waiver so they do not park along the streets,” he said. He hopes all logistics businesses will utilise the facility so that empty containers no longer occupy the roads and cause congestion. “So once again, we ask anyone involved in this activity to please take advantage of the discretion issued by the Governor to park at Tanah Merdeka, which can accommodate more than 200 containers,” he concluded. For information, the congestion in Cakung towards Cilincing was reported to have occurred on Tuesday (21/7/2026) morning. The Traffic Management Centre of the Metro Jaya Police reported via its official account that the congestion started at 07:36 WIB. The congestion occurred from the Cakung traffic light, stretching towards Cilincing and towards Harapan Indah Bekasi. The congestion reportedly occurred again on Wednesday (22/7/2026) afternoon, caused by a long queue of container trucks in the left lane of the road.