Jakarta insists on maintaining toll road restrictions for trucks

The Jakarta Transportation Agency says it will continue to impose an experimental restriction on trucks using on Jakarta’s toll roads, despite requests from the Transportation Ministry to scrap it.

“We will continue [with the ban] until June 10, when it is scheduled to end. It’s only an experimental ban anyway,” Jakarta Transportation Agency deputy chief Reza Hasyim said Thursday.

Earlier the Transportation Ministry urged the Jakarta administration to quickly end the restriction, saying it disrupted the distribution of goods, including those destined for export.

Trucks were first prevented from using the Tomang-Cawang, Pluit-Tomang, Cawang-Tanjung Priok, Cawang-Pasar Rebo, and Cawang-Cikunir toll roads in Jakarta from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. during the ASEAN Summit period from May 7 to 8.

The Jakarta Transportation Agency then extended the ban until June 10, in an experimental move to ease Jakarta traffic congestion.

Transportation Ministry spokesman Bambang S. Ervan on Wednesday urged the agency to reevaluate the ban and suggested it drop the restriction to allow trucks to travel on the inner city toll road from 10 p.m to 9 a.m.

However, Reza dismissed the suggestion as “useless”.
“No container trucks travel between 5 a.m and 9 a.m.,” he told The Jakarta Post.