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nstead of focusing on improving public transportation, the Jakarta administration has finally decided to go ahead with its plan to construct six inner-city toll roads next year, which is definitely not a panacea to the acute traffic congestion plaguing the capital'€™s streets.

The construction of the new toll roads, with a total length of 69.7 kilometers, was initiated by then governor Fauzi Bowo in May 2005. Opposition from transportation experts and urban activists forced the provincial government to suspend the project several times. Governor Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo initially rejected the plan, but later he accepted it with the condition that one lane on each of the toll roads should be dedicated to public buses.

Deputy Governor Basuki '€œAhok'€ Tjahaja Purnama said late last month the construction the toll roads '€” Semanan in West Jakarta to Sunter in North Jakarta Sunter to Pulogebang in East Jakarta, Duri Pulo in Central Jakarta to Kampung Melayu in East Jakarta, Kampung Melayu to Kemayoran, Central Jakarta, Ulujami in South Jakarta, to Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta, and Pasar Minggu in South Jakarta, to the Casablanca area in South Jakarta '€” should run simultaneously within three years.

Ahok may be right that the new toll roads, which will cost Rp 42 trillion (US$3.63 billion), will facilitate the smooth passage of vehicles. But as experience has shown, it will not last long as more cars will soon throng the new roads and cause even worse traffic gridlock not only on the new roads, but also on surrounding arterial roads. Currently traffic congestion characterizes the existing inner-city toll roads during rush hours.

We believe that the six toll roads will generate more bottlenecks that will exacerbate traffic jams at their exit gates and on nearby roads. The more roads are built the more cars are bought and traffic congestion remains unresolved.

The choice of new toll roads is therefore regrettable as the city government has not done enough to improve public transportation as the solution to the transportation headache faced by many large metropolitan areas around the world.

We have learned that the Jakarta government'€™s efforts to enhance public transportation services has gone nowhere after it halted a plan to buy more buses to be deployed along Transjakarta bus lanes, after law enforcers discovered alleged markups in the procurement of TransJakarta buses.

Instead of building new toll roads, it would be better for the city administration to immediately realize its plan to procure 1,000 large buses for TransJakarta and 3,000 smaller buses to serve residential areas. While the Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) project is underway, Transjakarta, together with commuter trains, should become the backbone of the city'€™s public transportation. Deployment of those buses will significantly curb public complaints about long queues at bus stops and terminals and about overcrowded buses.

The city'€™s strategy to ease traffic gridlock should reduce people'€™s dependence on their private vehicles by providing them with more convenient and reliable public transportation services, rather than building new roads.