Government Considered Reluctant to Repair Damaged Roads
Monday, 10 March, 2008 | 13:53 WIB

TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: Tulus Abadi, a representative of the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI), is urging the provincial government of the Jakarta Special Capital Territory (DKI) to repair damaged streets in the city following the floods as soon as possible.

“The government should immediately repair the road because not doing so create more traffic jams and also casualties”, Tulus told Tempo via phone yesterday (9/3).

According to police records studied by Tempo, last week at least three people were injured because of damaged roads.

The latest case involved a motorcyclist, Firmansyah, 39, from Kebon Jeruk West Jakarta.

He was knocked unconscious after falling into a hole in the road on Jalan Sisingamangaraja, South Jakarta, on Saturday last week.

One day earlier, two people died after their vehicle crashed into a hole in the road on Jalan Pahlawan Revolusi, East Jakarta.

These accidents, according to Tulus, show that government has been reluctant to observe consumers’ righst.

“The right to have secure infrastructure is not being fulfilled”, he said.

Especially when the street users as citizens have fulfilled their obligations by paying taxes.

According to Budi Widiantoro, Deputy Head of DKI Jakarta Public Works Office, the government has actually been intending to repair the roads soon.

The problem, according to Budi, is that in order to repair the roads they have to wait for disbursements from the 2008 budget.

MUHAMMAD NUR ROCHMI | IBNU RUSYDI