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tate-owned airport operator PT Angkasa Pura (AP) II will continue its closure of the M1 access gate to Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Banten, despite complaints from the public.

Asmuji, a 42-year-old employee at a national airline company, said he had to walk approximately 400 meters from the M1 access gate during his commute every day since it had been closed.

He added that many airport employees parked their motorcycles at the M1 access gate before walking to and from their workplace every day.

'€œWalking is pretty tiring. I would have to pay about Rp 10,000 [83 US cents] if I took a motorcycle taxi [ojek] and that'€™s Rp 20,000 per day for a round trip,'€ he said.

'€œThe M1 access to the airport from both Tangerang city and the regency has not been closed but has been redirected through the north and south perimeter routes. The effects will be the same, whether it'€™s closed now or in two years. What'€™s the difference?'€ AP II operational and technical director Salahudin Rafi told The Jakarta Post recently.

The distance of the alternative routes are much longer at 6.5 kilometers, in comparison to the 500 meters from the M1 access gate.

According to Rafi, the M1 access gate was closed temporarily on Oct. 7 to construct a commuter line route, which was part of a large design project started last year to increase the airport'€™s capacity.

'€œIt would have been useless to build Terminal 3 and 4 without building a new access gate. There was no choice but to close the M1 gate,'€ he said.

Rafi said many hotels, apartments, shopping malls and storage units had been established since the 2013 design project had started. These attracted potential workers and contributed to the regency budget, he said.

'€œSo, Tangerang residents who are headed to Jakarta can still go through the airport even though the distance is a little longer,'€ he said.

Tangerang Mayor Arief R. Wismansyah acknowledged that he had received many complaints from the public about the gate'€™s closure.

'€œI'€™ve already asked the [Tangerang] Transportation Agency to produce a report on the effects of the closure,'€ he said.

Arief explained that the city administration had proposed that AP II also open access to the south perimeter through Jl. Pembangunan II to shorten the distance. However, he said that this had not been done, causing traffic inside and around the airport.

Arief said a petition had also been signed by members of the public to reject the gate'€™s closure.

'€œWe will try to coordinate with AP II to solve the problem but if a solution cannot be found then the city administration will report the situation to the President,'€ he said.