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Jakarta Gridlock Going Nowhere Until December, So Buckle Up or Buy a Bike!


If the massive gridlock on Jalan Sudirman in the past few days has you feeling frazzled, you might want to brace yourself for another seven weeks of the same mind-numbing mayhem.

Ery Basworo, head of the Jakarta’s public works office, said on Thursday that the drain repair project responsible for the gridlock would be finished in mid-December at the earliest, during which the full force of the rainy season is expected to begin.

“Even if we could push the completion date earlier, it would only be by a day. That’s how tight our schedule is,” he said.

When asked why the project wasn't started way ahead of the rainy season, he said the project had actually started on time.

“You know what the bureaucracy is like for government projects — long and complicated,” Ery continued. “For us to even get the project started in September was an achievement.”

The public works office is replacing the drainage canals that run beneath Jalan Sudirman and Jalan Thamrin with a set of new culverts that are aimed at helping prevent flooding on the city’s two major thoroughfares during the recently begun rainy season.

The repairs have taken up an entire lane along the southern end of Jalan Sudirman, constricting traffic flow and resulting in bumper-to-bumper gridlock all the way north past the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in Central Jakarta and up to the National Monument (Monas).

The city administration blamed Wednesday’s congestion on the heavy downpours that fell in the afternoon, causing localized flooding along some stretches of road.

However, traffic was just as bad, if not worse, on rain-free Thursday and had built up well before the evening rush hour.

Sr. Comr. Royke Lumowa, the Jakarta Police’s traffic director, conceded that reducing the congestion on the city’s streets would be “difficult.”

“We cannot avoid these roadside construction projects, especially when they are necessary,” he said.

“The new drainage system is supposedly being put in place to prevent flooding.”

He said the only thing that police could do was remind the contractors to minimize traffic disruption by ensuring that none of their materials spilled over onto the road.

“For safety, we need to put up more road signs,” Royke said. “There are several points along the road that don’t have the appropriate signs or barriers. We don’t want any motorcycles to accidentally swerve into holes for the culverts.”

He also said that more traffic police officers were being dispatched to help direct traffic on Jalan Sudirman.

As bad as things are now, they are expected to get worse come mid-November, when authorities will institute a system of alternate road closures in order to provide athletes competing in the Southeast Asian Games with free-flowing traffic between their hotels and competition arenas.

The system of selective road closures will see traffic officers block regular traffic so the athletes’ convoys can pass through.

Ery said the section of Jalan Sudirman under repair would not be ready in time for the Games, which run from Nov. 11-22. “We would like to have the new drainage system covered before the SEA Games, but that section of the road won’t be able to be used until a few days later,” he said.

The administration is also planning a partial closure of all junior and senior high schools from Nov. 14-18, except for ninth- and 12th-graders, to reduce early-morning congestion.


(x the JG)