Jakartans had high hopes when they picked Fauzi Bowo to be the city's governor three years ago. They were not just wooed by Fauzi's claim to be "the expert on Jakarta", a key plank of his campaign, but were convinced by his work as a city bureaucrat for nearly three decades.

Now many Jakartans are deeply disappointed. They have realized their city has not been getting better, and might be getting worse, under the leadership of "its expert". The governor has even considered not addressing the major problems he promised to resolve during the campaign, such as traffic chaos, a clean water supply, housing and the city's perennial flooding.

Fauzi and Prijanto, both supported by major political parties, were the first pair directly elected as the city's governor and vice governor and were inaugurated on Oct. 7, 2007.

Fauzi's program to address transportation problems attracted voters who were frustrated by the city's daily traffic chaos. Everyone knows that poor condition of the city's transportation system has long been the main source of other major problems, such as popular frustration, inefficiency and air pollution.

Unfortunately, Fauzi, failed to fulfill his promises, although he had opportunity to do so. Traffic congestion is even worse today due to the stagnation of several public transportation projects, including the Tranjakarta busway.

Jakarta now has 10 busway corridors, which have the potential to improve public transportation and reduce the commuter dependency on private vehicles. Unfortunately, Fauzi failed to optimize infrastructure. He failed deploy adequate buses on the corridors, which led to more crowding on city streets after travelers chose to use private vehicles instead of Transjakarta.

Meanwhile, the city also still faces a serious problem in supplying clean water to residents. So far, water operators can supply only 50 percent of the city's water needs. The administration also failed to renovate the existing pipe water network that has caused poor water quality. Last but not least is the administration's failure to find alternative water resources.

The city's dependency on Jatiluhur dam in West Java leads to water shortages every dry season. The shortage of clean water from tap water operators causes residents and businesses problems – and also encourages overexploitation of underground water supplies, which in turn causes environmental problems, such as land subsidence and sea water intrusion. Experts linked the recent road collapse in North Jakarta to this environmental problem.

To be fair, there have been achievements under Fauzi's leadership. Jakarta administration has acquired a large section of land for the East Flood Canal (BKT) project that would make it possible to extend the canal to the sea. This canal may be able to ease flooding in eastern Jakarta. The governor also managed to re-purpose previously occupied by commercial entities, such as gasoline stations, as green areas. Fauzi is also reportedly trying to reform the city's bureaucracy to improve public services.

Surely, there is still much to do for Governor Fauzi and his staff. We all know that Jakarta's complex problems cannot be solved by business as usual. Breakthroughs are needed. The governor only has two years to prove his expertise and fix the city's problems – or voters will have to find an alternative.