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I’m proud Bekasi is congested city: Mayor
Mayor claimed city's economic growth rate was above the national average.
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Traffic jam along Jakarta-Cikampek toll road in Cikarang, Bekasi, West Java, on June 10, 2018. (Antara/Hafidz Mubarak A)
T
he mayor of Bekasi, West Java, Rahmat “Pepen” Effendi, has said he is proud that his city has become known as a city of traffic congestion as it indicated economic growth.
Pepen was responding to the remarks of newly inaugurated Cilegon, Banten, Mayor Edi Ariadi who commented on Wednesday that Bekasi was often jammed.
“I’m proud that traffic jams often occur in Bekasi, otherwise there wouldn’t be economic growth, nor would education be progressing. Let it be congested, what's more important is that the economic growth [of Bekasi] is above the national average,” Pepen said on Thursday.
According to the Bekasi mayor’s 2013-2018 accountability report (LKPJ), the city recorded a growth rate of 5.82 percent from 2013 until 2016, while the national average stood at 5.17 percent in 2018.
Furthermore, Pepen said, four national strategic projects being constructed side by side in the city contributed to the traffic congestion. The projects are the Becakayu toll road, the light rail transit (LRT), the Jakarta-Cikampek toll road and Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway.
The city administration would of course make steady efforts to tackle traffic congestion, he said.
“Infrastructure will be improved, so as time goes by [traffic congestion] will be reduced. Because it's not only the system that needs to change but also society's behavior,” Pepen said.
“Hopefully, he [Edi] heard what I’m saying and he is aware of it,” he added.
The new Cilegon mayor said after his inauguration on Wednesday that he wanted infrastructure development in Cilegon to be as great as in Bekasi, but expressed regret at the traffic congestion in Bekasi.
“We’ve requested an overpass, which is the responsibility of central government or Banten province. We don’t want to be like Bekasi, what a shame about its congestion,” Edi said, as quoted by kompas.com. (sau)
