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akarta residents enjoyed quieter streets and smoother traffic during the second day of the 60th anniversary of the Asian-African Conference Commemoration (AACC), despite predictions that the conference would trigger massive congestion in the city.

Denty Nastitie, a private company employee, said Monday she was able to pass through the Tendean intersection in South Jakarta from her house in Cawang, East Jakarta, in 10 minutes by motorcycle.

She said she usually needed 30 minutes to do so given the area'€™s dense traffic.

'€œI thought today'€™s traffic would be very bad due to the AACC, but surprisingly it was smoother,'€ Denty told The Jakarta Post.

A meeting among senior-level officials on Sunday kicked off the series of AACC events, at which 32 heads of state or government, six deputies and representatives of 79 countries are expected to attend.

Fikri Hamadhani, who takes public transportation from Ragunan in South Jakarta to his office at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in Central Jakarta on a daily basis, said a lot of information had circulated on social media about the possibility of massive congestion on Monday.

'€œHowever, I didn'€™t see any difference compared with regular workdays,'€ he said.

Meanwhile, Septiani, who regularly drives from her house in Depok, West Java, to her office in Central Jakarta, said she decided to take commuter rail to avoid the traffic.

'€œI think a lot people also did the same thing, as my friend said the train station was more crowded than usual today,'€ she said.

Jakarta Traffic Police chief Sr. Comr. Risyapudin Nursin said he was satisfied with the smooth traffic, considering the public to have heeded advice to avoid main roads or use public transportation during the AACC.

According to him, roads would be closed to make way for the head of states and other delegates on April 22-24, when summit activities will peak. Road closures are expected to last around two to three hours.

'€œWe will start the road closures at 6 a.m. in the morning because the VIPs will depart from their hotels starting at 7:54 a.m. and need to have arrived at the JCC by 8:45 a.m.,'€ he said.

Risyapudin added that departures would start from hotels in '€œCluster 3'€ in South Jakarta, where five-star hotels such as Mulia, Fairmont, Ritz-Carlton Pacific Place and Dharmawangsa are located.

 Once delegates from the Cluster 3 have departed, VIPs staying in '€œCluster 2'€ in Kuningan will start departing. Cluster 2 covers the Gran Melia Hotel and the JW Marriott. The last cluster, which includes the Mandarin Hotel, Hotel Indonesia Kempinski, Sari Pan Pacific Hotel and Grand Hyatt Hotel, in Central Jakarta, will depart last.

The same traffic detours will be applied in the Sudirman, Kuningan and Semanggi areas from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., when leaders return to their hotels.

Risyapuddin said police had deployed a security team for ministers and heads of state or government. Each head of state and head of government will receive a security team consisting of two motorcycles and one car, while each minister will receive one motorcycle and one car. (prm)