$4.5b Toll Road Project to Untangle Traffic Snarls to Start in 2011: Fauzi Bowo

Jakarta Globe, Arientha Primanita | August 19, 2010

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Jakarta. The Jakarta administration’s ambitious Rp 40 trillion ($4.5 billion) project to build six new toll roads to ease the capital’s famed gridlock will not get underway until next year, Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo said on Thursday.

The Public Works Ministry has approved the new toll roads, which will connect the existing networks between Jakarta and Surabaya by 2014.

“The toll roads will add to Jakarta’s road ratio by up to 0.3 percent. The tender process will begin at the end of this year,” Fauzi said. The city’s road ratio currently sits at 6.2 percent.

The city administration had been waiting for central government approval for the project, which involves 75 kilometers of new roads and is part of the city’s attempts to upgrade its creaking transportation infrastructure.

“City Hall will be finalizing the administrative documentation, and the first phase of the construction will be completed by 2012,” Fauzi said.

He also said the city had prioritized certain areas for toll road construction to ensure the highways became a solution to the traffic jams and not an additional burden.

The governor added that companies that won a tender would also manage the operation of the toll road, and the city administration would allow city-owned developers Jakarta Propertindo and Pembangunan Jaya Group to team up and join the bid.

Sutopo, a director at Pembangunan Jaya, said that based on this year’s Presidential Decree on tenders, a city-owned enterprise was permitted to act as a project initiator and was also allowed to prepare a tender.

“The tender is for everyone and the city’s consortium will join the bid,” Sutopo said.

Fauzi said concern from the public had been registered over whether the construction of new roads would spark greater gridlock in a city known for hours-long traffic jams.

While adding road ratio to a city provides a short-term fix to congestion, studies indicate that when new roads are built, vehicle ownership rates increase to cover the new pavement.

But Jakarta’s planners hope that inner toll roads linking with other toll roads such as Jakarta’s outer ring road will still provide a buttress to the capital’s traffic woes.

Fauzi also said the city would manage the on and off ramps of the elevated toll roads to better control the usually voluminous flow of incoming traffic.

The proposed routes for the new toll roads in Jakarta are Kampung Melayu-Kemayoran; Pasar Minggu-Casablanca; Kampung Melayu-Duri Pulo; Pulogebang-Sunter; Ulujami-Tanah Abang; and Semanan-Sunter.

The construction schedule has the six toll roads slated to be built in four stages.

The first stage is the 17.88 kilometer long road from Semanan in West Jakarta to Sunter in North Jakarta, which will be followed by a road running from Pulogebang in East Jakarta to Sunter in North Jakarta.

The second stage is Duri Pulo in Central Jakarta to Kampung Melayu in East Jakarta, and Kampung Melayu to Kemayoran.

A Ulujami to Tanah Abang road makes up the third stage, and the last stage will be a toll road linking Pasar Minggu to Casablanca.