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View all search resultsRoads dug, traffic delayed: Jakartans fume over never-ending utility works
Compounding the everyday chronic traffic congestion, widespread utility works across Jakarta have triggered frustration among residents, with experts blaming poor planning and management behind these overrunning projects.
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Motorcyclists travel along a street on Monday in Cikini, Central Jakarta, where utility work for a new sewerage system has cut through the road. (JP/Gembong Hanung)
C
ompounding the everyday chronic traffic congestion, widespread utility work across Jakarta has triggered frustration among residents, with experts blaming poor planning and management behind the projects.
At least 216 road sections across the capital, totaling more than 260,000 kilometers, have been affected by utility work since late last year, according to the Jakarta Transportation Agency. The projects include water pipes and drainage installation, as well as the construction of a sewerage system where roads are being drilled to make way for waste pipes.
Nine sewerage lines, for instance, are currently under construction along the crowded Pegangsaan Timur and Cikini Raya roads in Central Jakarta, where the popular Ismail Marzuki Park complex is situated. They are part of the Jakarta Sewerage Development Project (JSDP), which is run jointly by the Public Works Ministry and the Jakarta Water Resources Agency.
One digging site in the area, which has taken over nearly half of a nearby intersection, has been named “proyek galian abadi” (everlasting excavation project) by an anonymous user on Google Maps.
Such labels have recently become emblematic to Jakarta, with social media users calling the city “Jakarta Kota Galian” (City of Excavation), highlighting mounting frustration over prolonged roadwork.
In Cikini, the construction of a section of the new sewer line has been ongoing for nearly a year despite the Jakarta administration previously promising early completion.
“During rush hour, the traffic is always chaotic. Many people and businesses have complained for months,” Supardi, a parking attendant who works near the site, told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
