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fter a four-year hiatus, the Jakarta administration is commencing the land-procurement process for the construction of six new inner toll roads in Jakarta, a project analysts say will do little to ease the capital’s horrendous traffic.

Land procurement technical unit head at the Bina Marga Agency, Ahmad Dahlan said on Friday that city officials had finished marking the areas to be later measured by the National Land Agency (BPN).

“If the land is clear, the construction can start,” he said, adding that he expected the construction to begin by the end of this year.

The agency has proposed Rp 100 billion (US$7.6 million) in the 2016 Revised City Budget bylaw draft to finance the land procurement for the project, which will be carried out by city-owned PT Jakarta Tollroad Development (JTD).

Previously, Urban Planning and Environmental Bureau head Vera Refina Sari said the construction of six elevated toll roads would go ahead despite protests from urban planners who argue the project will lead to an increase in the number of vehicles entering the capital.

Vera said the administration had prepared a number of locations for the project. “The locations include Sunter in North Jakarta and Jl. Raya Bekasi in East Jakarta,” she said.

Both roads will be connected by one of the six inner toll roads, especially the first lane connecting Semanan in West Jakarta and Pulogebang in East Jakarta, she added.

“The road will accommodate heavy vehicles”.

The construction of the 69.7 kilometers of toll roads will involve an investment of Rp 42 trillion.

The first phase of the project will see the construction of a 20.23-kilometer road from Semanan to Sunter and a 9.4-km road from Sunter to Pulogebang.

The second phase will focus on the routes from Duri Pulo, Central Jakarta, to Kampung Melayu, East Jakarta, and from Kampung Melayu to Kemayoran, Central Jakarta.

The third phase of the project, meanwhile, will connect Ulujami, South Jakarta, to Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta, and the fourth will
connect Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta, to the Casablanca area of South Jakarta.

The inner toll road project, initiated by then governor Sutiyoso in 2007, was suspended in 2012 by then Jakarta governor Joko “Jokowi” Widodo after many experts voiced their objections to the project.

The project, however, has never been scrapped from the city’s mid-term regional development plan or the 2030 Spatial Planning Bylaw.

Experts argue that the roads will not ease congestion in the city but rather have a harmful impact on the city, such as by air and light pollution. The roads will also affect thousands of families as they will pass trough densely populated areas.

While the city still refuses to disclose the detailed routes, data received by The Jakarta Post last year shows that many of the routes overlap with other public transportation projects. The first phase, for example, will overlap with the planned Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system.