TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Jakarta to bury overhead power cables for safety
East Jakarta is leading an initiative to move 2 kilometers of overhead utility lines underground in a two-pronged measure that aims to improve safety for pedestrians and motorists as well as beautify the municipality.
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
A man and a boy walk across a makeshift bridge on Nov. 26, 2019, beneath a web of electricity cables in a riverbank settlement in Jakarta. (AFP/Bay Ismoyo)
T
he Jakarta administration plans to move overhead electricity cables into underground ducts in a bid to obtain “global city” status in response to the government’s plan to relocate the nation’s capital to Nusantara, East Kalimantan.
The East Jakarta Bina Marga road agency initiated the overhead-underground cable conversion project to focus particularly on areas with a high density of low-hanging cables, such as the subdistricts of Pondok Kelapa, Penggilingan and Pulo Gebang, including power lines near the office of the East Jakarta Mayor in Pulo Gebang.
“The project focuses on 2 kilometers of cables involving 25 operators. We’re prioritizing this area for beautification, because these areas are often used to host official government events,” East Jakarta Bina Marga head Benhard Hutajulu said on Tuesday, as quoted by Kompas.com.
Bina Marga’s East Jakarta branch has previously cleared nearly 2 km of overhead cables in Lubang Buaya, as well as moved 240 electricity poles and 35 underground junction boxes.
Benhard added that the agency also had installed street lighting systems and resurfaced the road to make the area “more beautiful”.
Typically used by telecommunications and electricity companies, low-hanging overhead cables have plagued Jakarta’s streets and neighborhoods for decades. Aside from aesthetic reasons, dangling cables pose a hazard to passersby and motorists drivers. Pedestrians have often received electric shocks from power lines tied to footbridge railings.
At least three people became entangled in low-hanging cables in 2023.
