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Short-circuit danger lurks in Jakarta's tangled power lines
Jakarta could be heaven for hardcore tightrope walkers in need of practice, especially those who do not fear electric shocks
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Jakarta could be heaven for hardcore tightrope walkers in need of practice, especially those who do not fear electric shocks.
Black cables, thick and thin, looped, braided or simply strewn across poles, decorate the city’s streets like wreaths hanging from a Christmas tree, with the deadly bonus of the risk of electrocution and fire.
However, most Jakartans seem to consider the tangled cables as just another one of the city’s features, along with congestion and pollution.
“All those cables are such an eyesore," said Iya Yuliawati, a Kemang resident. “I wish the authorities could make it less messy."
Many would associate the cables with electricity, and, consequently, the state-owned electric company PLN.
However, the company claimed it was not entirely to blame for the matter.
“That one, that’s ours,” Widodo Budi Nugroho, PLN’s manager for Jakarta and Tangerang area distribution recently said as he looked at a photo of an electric pole in Casablanca, South Jakarta.
Almost a quarter of the pole’s top half was covered with black cables, which trailed along the edges of a pedestrian bridge beside it.
“But the ones below, I don’t know who they belong to."
He explained that many telecommunication companies used PLN’s poles to house their cables.
Sintong Sianipar from the City Public Works Agency said his agency often discovered unwanted or unregistered cables hanging on those poles.
“Each week I meet with all the companies providing utility networks and I often show pictures of unruly cables to the representatives,” Sintong said.
“No one would admit that those cables were theirs, but if we announce a three-day limit before dismantling them, then suddenly the cables disappear before the deadline.”
Cellular provider companies claimed that they were not responsible for the mysterious cables.
Andri Aslan, spokesperson for Internet provider company IM2 said his company sometimes used PLN poles for its operation, but never failed to pay the rent.
Danny Buldansyah, vice president director of Bakrie Telecom, which owns flagship product Esia, claimed his company did not use the PLN poles.
“We are working with wireless BTS [base tranceiver stations] now."
He said the company only used underground fiber optic cables for its operations.
There are more paying television subscribers in the city, and most find it easy to install the service in their home, by simply pulling a cable out of the nearby pole.
Wulan, a resident of Tanah Sereal in West Jakarta, set an extra wire to connect the power from her home to a small kiosk.
“I didn’t ask for any help from the PLN [to split the electricity line]. I just worked it out myself.”
Such practices could prove dangerous as they often lead to short-circuiting, the major cause of fires in the city. Last week, an alleged short circuit sparked from a store in a West Jakarta market and razed the whole market.
Such incidents have prompted Jakarta Deputy Governor Prijanto to criticize PLN as being “too lenient” in its installation of power lines.
But Deputy manager for communication at PLN’s Jakarta and Tangerang branch, Sampurno Marnoto, denied the company valued profit over safety, saying each installation or power addition must undergo a thorough safety check. (dis)
