Road project worsens congestion

BEKASI: Residents in Pondok Gede are calling upon the local administration, which plans to widen Jl. Raya Jatiwaringin later this year, to conduct the work at night to avoid worsening the traffic jams.

Mutiah, 30, complained that she often was late to work due to the chronic traffic congestion on the road every day, especially during rush hour.

Therefore, the project to widen the road should be conducted at night, otherwise, it would worsen the traffic, she said.

A number of pak ogah (self-appointed traffic monitors who do the job for tips) who operate on the street actually make things worse, she added.

The Bekasi administration has allocated Rp 8 billion to widen the road from Pangkalan Jati to Pondok Gede market, by six meters by the end of the year. The money was appropriated from the 2002 budget.

It had planned to start the work earlier, but was forced to delay the project due to a dispute involving the Assaffi'iyah Foundation, which owns some of the land which needed to be cleared to make way for the project.

The foundation had earlier promised to give away the land for free, but it later retracted the offer and asked for compensation. --Antara