Indah Setiawati and Hasyim Widhiarto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Tue, 11/17/2009 1:16 PM
The extended traffic jams that hit Jakarta during heavy rains last week apparently irked Governor Fauzi Bowo, who on Monday called an impromptu meeting with the public works agency and the Jakarta Police traffic division.
"Learning from the congestion last Friday, this afternoon I will not only gather *officers* from the public works agency, but also members of the city police," Fauzi told reporters.
When traffic lights in one area were out and with parts of some roads flooded during the storm, the traffic in other areas can be affected, he said. Under such conditions, police officers are needed at every intersection, Fauzi said.
"When we looked around to see what was going on, we found no officers *at several heavily congested intersections*."
Flooding in Matraman had caused traffic paralysis on the Kebon Nanas bypass and on Jl. Panjaitan as well as many other connecting roads, he said.
Fauzi asked motorcyclists not to block traffic while they waited by roadsides for rains to stop, as this exacerbated congestion.
Fauzi said he had sent a written instruction to heads of districts and subdistricts, ordering them to monitor the cleanliness of gutters in their areas.
"This is not really a flood problem. I was upset when I went down Jl. Sudirman and Jl. Thamrin to see rainwater remained on roads because drains were blocked with leaves and garbage.
"It should not be left like that," Fauzi said.
Public works agency water facilities maintenance chief Tarjuki said the agency would add a mobile water pump to back up the existing water pump in the Surya Building, to help remove floodwater from Jl. Thamrin.
Blocked gutters could cause flooding, but the amount of rain on Friday was beyond the system's capacity, Tarjuki said.
A lack of coordination between agencies involved in construction may also cause drainage systems to fail, he said
"Some of the pylons for busway shelters, for example, have been set inside the drainage system and we were not told about it," Tarjuki said.
On Friday night, heavy rain resulted in traffic jams affecting almost all city thoroughfares, leaving many city residents complaining after they arrived home past midnight.
On Monday afternoon, an hour of heavy rain inundated several thoroughfares and created long traffic jams, for example on Jl. Sudirman, Jl. Asia Afrika and Jl. Thamrin in Central Jakarta, the city police's traffic management center (TMC) reported.
The TMC also reported that hundreds of visitors to Senayan City shopping mall in Central Jakarta could not leave the mall because the roads around the mall were flooded in thigh-deep water.
From West Jakarta, kompas.com reported that 30 motorcycles, two public minibuses and one private car had broken down on Jl. Raya Tanjung Duren which was inundated in up to 50 centimeters of water.
