Public facilities remain neglected, damaged in capital
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)