Letters: Monorail problem unsolved

The BPKP (State Development Finance Comptroller) is certainly taking its time (3 years or so?) to handover results to enable problems to be solved between the city administration and PT Jakarta Monorail. In the meantime the traffic in front of and around Hotel Mulia is so bad due to unfinished work i.e. concrete columns littering the streets in Senayan area, which cause slow moving traffic. Instead of sitting and waiting for results, the governor should start seriously planning the construction of more elevated roads to criss-cross Jakarta.

Look at Bangkok, they have certainly solved their traffic congestion problem by building elevated roads and overpasses. Currently they are constructing a subway system. In the 1970s, Bangkok's traffic problems were so bad that many of my friends residing there had portable toilets in their cars.

Now a number of my Jakarta friends carry portable toilets with them, especially those with small children. The city administration should seriously take action to solve traffic congestion in Jakarta. The three-in-one system is a good solution were it not for the hundreds of jockeys standing at the roadside just waiting to be the number two and three person in the car.

The city administration is also taking away a big portion of already existing roads to be used by city administration's buses i.e. the so called busway system, which is causing more and more traffic jams.

Jakarta's number of cars and especially motorcycles clogging the road-system on a daily basis is growing annually due to economic progress. I foresee a complete traffic standstill very soon. Why not introduce a tax system, like Singapore, for automobilists using main roads like Sudirman + Thamrin + Hayam Wuruk + Gajahmada, as this will lead to fewer automobilists on these roads. Since the price of gasoline is so cheap in Indonesia, Jakartans prefer to use their personal cars instead of taking the bus.

Lynna Van Der Zee-Oehmke
Bogor