Thousands of commuters were stuck for hours in Jakarta’s gridlocked streets as heavy rain caused  floods, paralyzing road traffic and holding up trains on Monday.

Massive traffic congestion was mostly concentrated in areas that are regularly  flooded by heavy rain.
Yudi Purnomo who works in Kuningan, South Jakarta, said it took four hours just to get to Al-Azhar Mosque, South Jakarta, from his work place.

“It is only 30 minutes on other days. This is really the worst traffic I have ever encountered,” said the employee who has been working in the Kuningan area for four years.

He was still stuck near the mosque area at 10 p.m. last night.  

To reach the mosque, he said, he changed buses three times as all of them were caught in traffic while it was raining hard all the way.  

Arnif, who travelled by motorcycle from Kuningan to Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta, said JL. Mampang Prapatan to Warung Buncit was paralyzed with many  local floods from 20 to 80 centimeters deep.

“Many motorcycles had engine failure because the machines were submerged in floods,” he said.

Sri Hastuti, who spent more than 6 hours going from Tanah Abang market, Central Jakarta, to Mampang said this is the worst traffic ever in six years.

“On regular days, I can travel 30 to 40 kilometers per hour but today my car moved at 5 kilometers per hour,” she said.

Sri said that to stop herself from going crazy she kept calling and texting messages to her friends while she was sitting in her car stuck in the traffic jams.    

Frustration, marked with some ranting  and raving also colored comments to Twitter and Facebook.

Nancy Gultom said she walked from her house in Palmerah, West Jakarta, to her house on Jl. Tirtayasa, Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta, because the traffic was barely moving.

“Story of my life: walking from office to house. Unforgettable experience in 2010,” she wrote as her status in Facebook.

“Jakarta is crazy. No mercy to cars and motorcycles...Hallooo...Jakarta Governor..don’t just talk. You eat people’s money. Do something,” he said.

Jakarta’s congestion has worsened in the city especially with the more frequent rains during this last year.

The Presidential Work Unit for Development Monitoring and Control recently reported that Jakarta loses approximately Rp 12.8 trillion (US$1.43 billion) as a result of severe traffic congestion each year.

The World Bank puts that figure much higher at as much as at Rp 43 trillion per year.

Earlier, Firdaus Ali, an environmentalist, said motorists in the city wasted Rp 10.7 trillion on fuel burned while stuck in traffic last year, of which an estimated Rp 5.8 trillion had to be spent on treatment for respiratory problems every year.

“If a vehicle needs 1 liter of gasoline for a 20-kilometer journey, it will probably need between 2 and 3 liters for the same journey if the route is congested,” Firdaus  said.

Pollution has worsened in Jakarta, creating various health problems such as infections of the upper respiratory tract, he said.

According to data from the Health Ministry, respiratory tract infections topped the list of diseases in Jakarta last year, with about 1.8 million reported cases.

This reflected a 22.35 percent increase from the previous year. (rch)

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