T

he National Police's traffic division and governmental ministries responsible for transportation emphasized Tuesday that interdepartmental coordination was essential to tackling the city's traffic woes.

"The law requires the establishment of a forum on traffic, involving relevant stakeholders such as the police, the public works agency and the transportation agency, to help analyze and decide the direction of transportation policies," said Jakarta Transportation Agency head M. Tauchid.

Top officials from the Public Works Ministry, Transportation Ministry, Industry Ministry, the State Research and Technology Office and the National Police spoke Tuesday at a seminar held at the City Hall attended by police and staff from the Jakarta administration. The seminar was held to promote the newly passed 2009 traffic law.

Under the traffic law, roads are under the control of the Public Works Ministry, the Transportation Ministry is in charge of traffic and transportation infrastructure, the Industry Ministry is responsible for traffic, the research and technology office is responsible for developing technology for traffic and transportation, while the National Police is responsible for vehicle and driver registration, law enforcement and traffic management.

The Jakarta Police's director of traffic, Sr. Comr. Condro Kirono said the forum would be an ad hoc body that would be present in each city and regency.

"The forum will include transportation experts, academics, police, transportation agency officials and also car owners," Condro said.

"It will coordinate on transportation problems and provide recommendations," he said.

Tauchid and Cokro said the forum would be established in 2010.

Jakarta however, has a similar body called the Jakarta Transportation Council (DTK), which was established under a 2003 bylaw on transportation.

Jakarta is facing serious traffic problems, as experts predict Jakarta's roads will be gridlocked by 2014.

Meanwhile, public transport initiatives such as the TransJakarta busway are yet to be run optimally.

Tauchid said that Jakarta's transportation direction was to gradually reduce the number of cars on the city's street.

However, the Industry Ministry's director of transportation and aeronautics, Panggah Susanto, said the auto industry - which includes motorcycle and car manufacturing, was among the country's top priority industries, and that in the future Indonesia would be a base for automotive industry production.

An transportation expert from the state research and technology office, Moh. Nur Hidayat, said the only way to reduce cars on the street was to provide good public transport.

He said there should be a separation between the operator of the TransJakarta busway system and its regulator.

He said the TransJakarta should also have wide interaction with other agencies.

"This can be achieved through the forum," he said.