Untangling Merak jam

Stories of starving truck drivers begging for food, and drivers abandoning their trucks for lack of money are not the only horrendous tales coming out of Merak. There are bound to be other hard-luck stories resulting from the massive congestion at the West Java ferry port town these past few days.

Most, however, have not been reported by the media. Certainly the impacts of the delays have been neglected. These trucks carry food supplies not only for the Christmas and New Year holidays, but also raw materials for industries in Sumatra.

Stories about how the congestion has forced thousands of bus passengers to walk several kilometers to reach the port, or people arriving from Sumatra having to walk long distances to get to their buses, have become so common that they rarely get mentioned in the press nowadays.

Congestion in Merak has become a common sight. This is the third massive jam this year. The first one was in February, during the Idul Fitri holiday, and the second during the long school break in July. Both times, the ferry service simply could not cope with the surge in demand during the peak holiday times. This time the jam is blamed on bad weather. Port officials said strong waves in the Sunda Strait has made it unsafe for many of the ferries to sail between Merak and Bakauheni, the port at the other side of the strait. At one time, 10 of the 16 ferries were out of service this week, either because of poor weather or because they were dry docked.

Is this a case of bad weather, or more of bad management?

The jams in Merak these past few years have become more frequent, with each congestion seemingly worse than the previous one. The authorities appear to be doing little to improve the situation. The fleet of ferries are mostly old vessels that cannot survive the slightest rough weather. While we applaud the authorities' concern for passenger safety, it is no excuse for an inefficient service. The long delays at the port equally cause misery to many people.

The Sunda Strait ferry crossing is a vital link between Java and Sumatra, and the authorities know the ferry services are increasingly in demand. But two additional piers that were promised have not materialized, and there is no indication they will be ready by the next surge in demand during the Idul Fitri holiday, which is less two months away.

The authorities are not even upgrading the vessels plying the strait, or adding new ones. The congestion this week showed the sorry condition of the fleet of ferries in the Sunda Strait: most are either too old, too small or overused. It is fortunate that every time there is crisis, the Navy is willing to lend ships to help ease congestion. But this is a short-term solution.

There have also been talks about constructing a bridge between Java and Sumatra, a long-term solution that would solve the problem once and for all. But the plan is in a less-developed stage than the plan to build a bridge linking East Java and Madura. Without belittling the Madura bridge, one often wonders whether the authorities have their priorities right.

The authorities have short and long-term solutions, but no medium-term solution, which is important in averting the current crisis.

The horrendous tales coming from Merak have prompted at least one House of Representatives member to suggest that Minister of Transportation Haryanto Dhanutirto resign if the authorities are unable to resolve the congestion problem by Idul Fitri. The suggestion by Sofyan Usman, a member of House Commission V for transportation, as reported by Antara yesterday, seems rather drastic. But something slightly less drastic than that is probably what is needed now to untangle the jam in Merak.