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Letters: Suramadu bridge's toll rate
I was shocked to read in this paper that the toll for the bridge has been fixed Rp 30,000 (some US$3) for four-wheeled vehicles and Rp 3,000 for motorcycles
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I was shocked to read in this paper that the toll for the bridge has been fixed Rp 30,000 (some US$3) for four-wheeled vehicles and Rp 3,000 for motorcycles.
When the prevailing market rate was Rp 70,000 and Rp 5,800 for the same class of transport by ferry, why did the local government fix such a low rate?
More so as you have to raise the money for debt servicing and usually tariffs, once fixed, are very hard to increase. In this case, we are offering a superior and more efficient form of transportation for the same set of users.
I have seen ferry services in Europe, India, and many south East Asian countries and I can assure you that it is hardly a comfortable form of movement.
The rate fixed for cars is really atrocious. If anything we should discourage people driving across in private vehicles. These people belong to the economically better sections of society and can well afford to pay more.
I read with interest the other scheme in gestation i.e. the bridge across the Sunda Straits, which would be a real feather in the crown of Indonesia. Some 30 years ago, I had to take a ferry across the North Sea from the European mainland into Denmark and Sweden and thence to Oslo.
Now, they have built a bridge across the two straits and you can travel by rail all the way from Rome to Oslo. The charge is pretty stiff but no one is complaining.
If this project over the Sunda Straits materializes, it will really boost the economy of Indonesia.
In the Suramadu case, I am sure the microlets, minivans, buses and other equivalent forms of transport for poor people can be given a reduced rate, so that more people may use the bridge with fewer vehicles and use up less valuable gas. Similar benefits could be given to trucks carrying goods. But for passenger cars? This is a clear case of the richer becoming richer!
M. Seetharam
Jakarta
