Arientha Primanita & Zaky Pawas, Jakarta – As an investigation gets under way into why a 103-meter stretch of road in North Jakarta fell into the Japat River on Thursday, experts say the incident was symptomatic of the poor urban planning that plagues the city.
While no casualties were reported when a two-lane span of the four-lane Jalan RE Martadinata collapsed, the incident did play havoc with traffic to and from Tanjung Priok Port.
Authorities have blamed the incident on soil erosion at the base of the road's supporting pylons.
On Friday, Ubaidillah, the chairman of the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi), blamed the incident on land subsidence that was a running theme of the heavy ecological damage inflicted on the capital.
He said poor spatial planning had contributed to land subsidence and rising sea levels along the North Jakarta coast, which in turn had led to a marked increase in tidal flooding.
"The government only pays attention to commercial projects without concern for the environment," he said, referring to the large-scale property developments in North Jakarta that many critics blame for land subsidence in the area.
Ubaidillah said that adding extra layers to roads to prevent them from flooding was ineffective. "It just burdens the road and channels the water to surrounding residential areas that are lower," he said.
He called on the government to repair the city's drainage system and build effective dikes to stem tidal floods. "The root of these problems is negligent government policies that fail to address nature's threats," he said.
Fransiskus Trisbiantara, a civil engineering expert at Trisakti University, called for regular checks on roads, particularly coastal roads.
"Monitoring is part of planning, and that's what the government is failing to do," he told the Jakarta Globe. "We don't have a culture that espouses proper planning, that considers all aspects of a project from the very start."
Meanwhile, Anwar Yamin, a researcher with the Public Works Ministry's Road and Bridge Research Center, said a team had been sent to inspect the soil at the site of the collapse.
"We'll process the data and analyze what else we need to check before deciding on what action to take," he said, adding that the team would use reflection seismology to gauge whether there was a cavity in the earth around the base of the piles.
He also said that overloading may have led to the collapse, pointing out that the road had recently had a 20-centimeter-thick layer of concrete laid over it to heighten it and prevent regular flooding from the river.
Meanwhile, state-owned construction firm Wijaya Karya has been ordered to bore for soil samples at the site.
Wijaya Karya official Rochim said core samples from two meters deep would be taken to analyze the soil's load-bearing properties. He also said that piles would be added to bolster the remaining lanes, possibly by as early as Monday.
Hermanto Dardak, the deputy minister of public works, confirmed that the remaining lanes would be reinforced with more piles. He also said the ministry would fast-track a project to rebuild the road at an estimated cost of Rp 6 billion ($670,000).
"Since this qualifies as an emergency, we'll bypass the tender process for the project, which would take too long, and directly appoint a contractor," he said.
"We haven't decided on one yet, but it'll definitely be a state-owned company that we think is capable of doing a good job."
By law, government contracts valued at more than Rp 50 million must go through a public tender, although exceptions are often permitted during emergency situations.
Meanwhile, Jakarta Police said they would call in civil engineering experts from the University of Indonesia to evaluate whether the road and the additional layer had been built according to specified standards.
Spokesman Sr. Comr. Boy Rafli Amar declined to say whether police believed the collapse was due to criminal negligence. "It's to early to say whether it's a crime," he said on Friday. "Our initial suspicion is that this was caused by natural factors."