R

esolving traffic congestion in Jakarta is such a massive task that Dwi Sawung, from the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (WAHLI), has jokingly suggested to completely destroy the city and start over again from the beginning.

Although Dwi’s suggestion was clearly made in jest, the traffic issue in Jakarta is a very serious one.

Jakarta’s roads literally often function as parking lots due to the massive congestion, and the city’s unwanted reputation for its horrific traffic, which is among the worst in the world means an hour’s journey can more than triple during peak times.

Beyond wasting people’s time, Jakarta’s traffic jams are causing increasing levels of harm to residents’ health and the environment in which they live.

Despite the joke, as WAHLI’s energy and urban manager, Dwi observes a serious disconnect between government policies and projects, such as the MRT line and the real problems affecting Jakarta’s residents every day.

“The government’s approach hasn’t changed. Usually they make a policy at the desk and they don’t see the problem on the ground,” Dwi says.

He warns that the rest of Indonesia looks to learn from the massive urban development mistakes made in Jakarta so that they can prevent the same thing from happening in their regions.

Responding to Dwi’s pessimism, Jakarta Transportation Agency deputy head Sigit Wijatmoko remains optimistic about a less congested future for Jakarta.

Through local programs and the development of mass public transport, like a new rapid transit system using buses, light rail and monorail, Jakarta could look forward to a more healthy and happier city, Sigit said.

“We hope in the future that people will obey the rules and hope that people will switch to using mass public transportation, so that we can overcome congestion in Jakarta.”

One of the most significant projects began in 2004, when Jakarta’s commuters were promised a monorail line that would run from the north to the south of the city.

However, Dwi said the project did not service residents in urban areas and had not been effective. The first 16 kilometers of the MRT project is planned to be completed in 2018, but has been stalled by continuous delays.

The director of the US$1.6 billon MRT project, Dono Boestami, said he had no explanation for the long delay on the completion of the city’s first subway.

“The study was done more than 25 years ago. We started the ground-breaking research in this location in October 2013. If you ask me why it has taken so long, I cannot answer,” he said.

The issue in Jakarta’s abysmal urban development goes far beyond the often gridlocked traffic and unexplained project delays.

Environment expert and advocate Zsazsa Nahrasiyah said, for example, that there was no incentive for people not to use cars in Jakarta.

“Here, it is so easy to get a [driver’s] license. People can easily park their cars in the garage and perhaps the road outside their house, so they don’t need to rent a space to park their cars. Also, the price of a car is relatively cheap in Indonesia as you can [pay for it with] installments,” she said.

Meanwhile, University of Indonesia (UI) climate change researcher Budi Haryanto found that the transportation sector accounted for 80 percent of air pollution.

“The large number of vehicles together with a lack of infrastructure cause major traffic congestion, resulting in high levels of [air pollutants] that have a significant negative effect on public health,” he said.

The problem is only becoming worse, with the pollution index increasing at 6 to 8 percent annually, according to Budi.

“Diseases stemming from vehicular emissions and air pollution include acute respiratory infection, bronchial asthma, bronchitis, skin irritations, lung cancer and cardiovascular diseases.”
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Bianca Banchetti and Caitlin Archbold visited Indonesia with support from the Australian government’s New Colombo Plan mobility program. Stefanny and Cindy Gulla contributed research and translations for this story.