Semarang, Surabaya win best traffic awards

JAKARTA (JP): Semarang and Surabaya, the capitals of Central Java and East Java, respectively, won this year's government awards for the best metropolitan cities in terms of traffic management.

Jakarta, the largest metropolis in the country which is still feting the Parasamya Purna Karya Nugraha award for its development achievement, was conspicuously absent.

President Soeharto yesterday also awarded the Wahana Tata Nugraha award to 21 cities in the big, middle and small categories for their achievements on the traffic front, particularly in improving their residents' awareness to improve the traffic situation.

Among the big cities which received trophies this year are Padang in West Sumatra, Bandarlampung in Lampung and Surakarta in Central Java. Middle-sized cities which received accolades included Balikpapan in East Kalimantan, Jember in East Java, Bogor in West Java and Denpasar in Bali. Gianyar and Tabanan in Bali, Batusangkar in West Sumatra and Blitar in East Java, were thee winners in the small city category.

In his speech at the State Palace, Soeharto pointed out that "order and safety in transportation are the key to efficiency of the transportation infrastructures and facilities."

The President acknowledged that traffic chaos remains the order of the day in most cities one year after the tough 1992 Traffic Law came into force.

"Every day there are victims of traffic accidents. Traffic jams develop regularly in rush hours in most city centers," he said. "If we don't do anything about it, we will have more victims and more losses to carry."

Last year, over 16,000 traffic accidents took place across the archipelago, resulting in more than 9,000 deaths.

Soeharto yesterday used the ceremony to launch the national conference of the Ministry of Transportation to discuss its programs and budget for the 1995/1996 fiscal year. (par)