Adianto P. Simamora, Jakarta – Two-years after the establishment of the much-hyped Jakarta Transportation Board (DTK), there has been no breakthrough achieved to resolve the city's disorganized transportation system, a study shows.
The study conducted by the Coalition of Jakarta Residents for Transportation (Kawat) revealed that the board had not gathered suggestions from the public before making recommendations to Sutiyoso's administration.
"The board has not used its power to rectify the long-standing transportation problems in Jakarta," Tubagus Haryo Karbyanto, the coordinator of the survey told The Jakarta Post on the sidelines of a seminar on DTK performance Tuesday.
He said that during the two-year period, the board submitted only six recommendations to the administration, of which most were related to the increase in public transportation fares following the fuel price hikes.
The board, set up in 2004, has 15 members, comprising experts, transportation operators, urban activists and commuters. The board is mandated to gather and analyze suggestions from the public regarding the management of the city's transportation and make recommendations based on those inputs.
The board, which will end its first term at the end of this year, is also authorized to give advice to the administration.
Data from the study shows that the board submitted proposals on the increase in taxi fares, public buses and busway fares. The board, which once opposed the monorail project, endorsed the plan after the administration insisted on going ahead with the project.
The last and most controversial recommendation was the planned inner city turnpikes linking Bekasi-Kalimalang-Kampung Melayu; Ulujami-Tanah Abang; Kampung Melayu-Tomang; Pasar Minggu-Casablanca; Kemayoran-Kampung Melayu and Sunter-Pulo Gebang. The 85 kilometers of road will cost Rp 23 trillion (about US$2.5 billion).
Environmentalists, who at first hailed the presence of the Jakarta Transportation Board, criticized the board's approval of the turnpikes saying it violated its long struggle to promote mass transportation. The green activists argued that the new city turnpikes would worsen traffic congestion and air pollution as would encourage more people to drive.
In a meeting held by members of the Regional Representative Council from Jakarta on the planned turnpikes last week, activists bombarded the board with questions over its recommendations.
DTK chairman Sutanto Soehodho, who was a speaker at the meeting, said that the administration could not prevent people from driving to Jakarta and there should be a solution to the expected traffic snarls.
Sutanto, who is deputy rector for academic affairs of the University of Indonesia, said new roads were needed as traffic congestion on several main roads in Jakarta had been worsening.
The administration estimates that the number of private cars on city roads will grow by 10 percent yearly, while roads will be built at a rate of 1 percent. In 2004 there were more than 2.5 million private cars in the city and 3.8 million motorcycles, compared to 255,000 public transportation vehicles.
Jakarta Residents Forum chairman Azas Tigor Nainggolan, who attended the seminar, said that the board had failed to fulfill its mission to ensure Jakartans had access to cheaper, nonpolluting public transportation.
"The board seems powerless to stop the administration in the controversial transportation sector such as the planned six inner-city turnpikes and monorail," he said. Azas said that the board's members should avoid involvement in the city's projects to maintain independence in making recommendations.
Another speaker at the seminar, Tulus Abadi of the Indonesian Consumers Foundation, said that Jakarta residents had not benefited from the presence of the transportation board.
"Jakartans have to allocate 30 percent of their income for transportation. It is one of the key tasks of the board to reduce public spending on transportation," Tulus, who was involved in selecting board members, said.