Public facilities remain neglected, damaged in capital

JAKARTA (JP): The city's physical appearance has worsened lately as many public facilities remain neglected or damaged without repairs being made.

Dilapidated facilities, which are commonplace in the city's five mayoralties, include small potholes in roads, broken streetlights, nonfunctioning traffic lights and traffic signs obscured by trees.

Motorists have long complained about the dilapidated facilities, saying that Jakarta has become a challenging place for motorists.

Hawidi Sofjan, owner of an electronic shop in downtown Kota in West Jakarta, said he was bothered by the poor condition of traffic signs.

"I have to first slow my car or move it off to the side every time I need to read traffic signs as they are obscured by big trees. Such a problem has, of course, bothered motorists," said the 43-year-old man on Monday.

Hawidi said the problem creates troubles for motorists who have just come to the city. "I think they can easily get lost in the city."

Trees covering traffic signs are seen in almost every area in the city. The worst affected area is along Jl. Gunung Sahari Raya in Central Jakarta, where the roads are full of potholes and almost all the traffic signs are obscured with big trees growing beside the Ciliwung river.

Similar problems are found in other areas, such as Jl. Minangkabau, Jl. Radio Dalam, Jl. Fatmawati and Jl. Ciputat Raya in South Jakarta and Jl. Salemba Raya, Jl. Matraman Raya and Jl. Proklamasi in Central Jakarta.

Even a traffic sign on Jl. Ridwan Rais which shows the direction to City Hall is obscured by big trees.

Another resident, Iramawati, a housewife from Rawamangun area in East Jakarta, said the facilities' run-down condition showed that the city administration neglected the responsibility to maintain the city's beauty.

"There must be funds allocated for the maintenance of public facilities. Did they (the officials) use it for their own interests? People deserve to have good facilities because they pay taxes," said the mother of three, who drives her children to school every day.

She said it was too annoying to drive on roads full of holes or to drive at night through areas where streetlights were not working, such as along Jl. Pramuka in East Jakarta.

Electricity along the one-kilometer road has been out for several days, but head of the city's public roads electrical agency, I.G.K.G. Suena, was surprised to hear the report.

"I just heard about the power outage. I will soon order my workers to check it," he said.

Suena said power outages of streetlights were common during the rainy season.

He acknowledged that streetlights which function were only 92 percent of the 100,000 operating in the city.

"There are about 8,000 streetlights which go out every month. We can repair only 3,000 of them per month. Next fiscal year we will have a bigger maintenance allocation of Rp 7 billion (US$1 million) from the current Rp 4 billion, so we can reach the target of a 98 percent availability of street electricity per month," he said.

"Meanwhile, revenue from taxes on public electricity reached Rp 7 billion."

Spokesman for the city administration, Muhayat said separately on Monday that the administration could not immediately repair the damaged public facilities due to procedure.

He denied the allegation that the city administration had neglected its responsibility.

"We can't repair any one single or small problem as it will cost us more funds. It must be a very significant problem. Maintenance work should be done thoroughly. We hope that people will be patient," he said.

Muhayat said the city park agency would soon cut the trees which obscured traffic signs, while the city public works agency would repair damaged roads at the end of the rainy season.

Head of the public works agency, Fadly Khatib, said recently that as part of its routine property and public facility maintenance program, the city administration would resurface 42 major streets, which is estimated to cost some Rp 16 billion. (ind)