T

he Jakarta administration has pledged to provide designated lanes for athletes and divert traffic during the Asian Games to ensure participants arrive on time at their respective venues.

The Organizing Committee of Asia (OCA) has set standards in which travel time between the athletes’ village in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta, to other venues in the city not exceed 34 minutes.

However, from a preliminary simulation conducted by the city administration, a trip between the athletes’ village and the venues is estimated to take about 50 minutes owing to traffic jams.

There are 40 Games venues in the city of which 20 are located in Gelora Bung Karno (GBK), Senayan, Central Jakarta. The other venues are in North, East and South Jakarta.

In a bid to find solutions, Jakarta Deputy Governor Sandiaga Uno had a coordination meeting with related agencies at City Hall on Friday afternoon.

Jakarta Transportation Agency head Andri Yansyah said the administration planned to provide special lanes for vehicles transporting athletes.

“We will provide special lanes designated only for the event contingents and officials. We may also use Transjakarta bus lanes for this,” Andri added.

He said the agency had budgeted Rp 10.8 billion (US$864,000) for the management of the special lanes.

The contingents’ vehicles are set to be escorted by a team consisting of, among others, agency officers and the traffic police who will make sure the roads are “sterilized.”

Jakarta Youth and Sports Agency head Ratiyono said vehicles, which would transport athletes competing in GBK, would pass Kemayoran toll road.

Exiting the toll road, the vehicles would pass one or two designated lanes to Senayan, he added.

“The same traffic management would apply to other venues, such as for equestrian in Pulomas and Pencak Silat venue in Taman Mini Indonesia Indah, East Jakarta,” Ratiyono said.

The administration wished to reduce the travel time to less than 34 minutes, he added.

Meanwhile, Sandiaga said traffic management was urgent given the standards set by OCA. “We will hold another traffic simulations on Jan. 26 by coordinating with related parties.”

He added that the administration had mulled over the possibility to give students time off during the sporting event, which kicks off on Aug. 18 and ends on Sept. 2, to ease traffic congestion.

Ratiyono said schools might be encouraged to switch holidays.

While students usually had their holidays at the end of the semester in June, schools could halt the holidays until August to coincide with the Games, Ratiyono said.

Therefore, besides easing traffic jams, the adjustment would allow students to attend the event, he added.

Meanwhile, Sandiaga said the administration was hoping to encourage public and private offices to switch their working hours during the event.

For example, civil servants could work from 6.30 a.m. to 2 p.m. while employees of private companies could start working from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

“We haven’t decided on implementing these ideas as we are still waiting for the simulation results. However, we will be ready to take drastic action to host a successful event,” Sandiaga said.

Asian Games Organizing Committee secretary-general Eris Herryanto said he hoped traffic management would be tested during the Games’ test event in February.

“We hope to check the traffic management, the readiness of the officials, the volunteers, the venues and security during the test event,” Eris added.