Urban turnpike toll hikes

Urban turnpike toll hikes

In 1978, when the authorities began collecting tolls on the
Jagorawi turnpike connecting Jakarta and Ciawi, a hilly weekend
resort 60 kilometers south of the capital city, people complained
about the high cost of using that road. In an effort to sooth the
feelings of the disgruntled motorists, the government announced
that the toll would be stopped as soon as the cost of the
construction of the road, which was the first major highway to be
put into operation in this country, had been recovered. What
happened was that the authorities later increased the toll by
almost 100 percent without any explanation.

In 1992, the people started to complain again, when the
government unilaterally raised tolls on five major turnpikes in
Java and Sumatra up to 25 percent. At the time, harsh criticism
of the government's action was also heard in the House of
Representatives -- a rare occurrence in Indonesia's national
legislature. Some legislators attacked the policy because the
authorities concerned had promised to consult the House before
making a final decision. The legislative body felt it had been
deceived.

At that time the government defended itself with the argument
that it did not deem it necessary to consult the House of
Representatives on the matter because "to do so would only
discourage investors".

Last June, when word began to spread that the government was
planning to increase toll road rates again "in order to attract
new investment and upgrade existing toll road services", members
of the House of Representatives' commission concerned with public
works disagreed. They said higher fees should be set only for new
toll roads.

Now, the government has once again unilaterally decided to
raise the tolls. And although the new increases announced by the
Indonesian Highway Corporation (PT Jasa Marga), affect only the
Tomang-Cawang-Tanjung Priok-Ancol Timur toll road for now, few
people believe that there will be no similar steps -- sooner or
later -- for other sections of Jakarta's urban toll road network.

Although the hard fact is that there is little that the public
can do once the government has set its mind on taking a measure,
many people feel that the authorities could have at least
explained the calculations behind this particular step. This
seems reasonable in light of the fact that experience has shown
that our people can be quite critical about any government policy
that has a direct impact on their lives and interests.

Whatever the reason behind this latest measure may be, many
people in this country are quite well aware that most Southeast
Asian countries do not charge tolls on highways within cities.
But where can the people go to register their complaints on such
matters? The House of Representatives?