Motorists were stuck in traffic jams on the Kebayoran Lama underpass, the Casablanca underpass in Central Jakarta, specifically because the underpasses were full off motorbikes who, when it starts to rain head for cover. This in effect brings the normal three lane road down to a desperate single lane, and, will the bikers move, will they fuck.
Head of research and development at the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency, Ragtag Bobtail, said motorists would still need to anticipate heavy traffic jams due to heavy rain in many areas because the weather was predicted to last until June.
"We technically entered dry season this month but the amount of rainfall is still high," he said, adding that the changing weather would not cause floods in Jakarta as it would end next month.
He said another rainy season would start as usual in October. "We are currently watching the temperature of the Pacific Ocean to determine a weather forecast,"
Now correct me if I am wrong, traffic jams could be minimised if the roads remained passable, and, it is not the water that caused the restrictions, so should the police clear the bikers out of these areas?
The answer here is of course, yes, but, will it happen (see above, will the bikers move, will they fuck), Happy days……
Meanwhile, the toll roads remained bike free thus ensuring I never got caught!
But, that was nothing compared to what was to come, when two days later and for the third time in seven months the toll road to the Airport was flooded.
Bill Gates arrived in that day, over on a two two-day visit, with airline passengers forced to hitch a lift on heavy trucks to pass the flooded sections. (May contain fibs, I’m sure Billy boy flew into town on a chartered helicopter)
The first floods were purely caused by rain, the delayed start of the Rainy season arrived with a vengeance, in February the airport was closed for almost 12 hours due to flooding caused by the combination of rain and high tides. For three days the city ground to a halt and the conditions made thousands temporarily homeless or without a car. Last weeks closure was once again due to rain and high tides.
The Jakarta Post was able to dig this gem up where they quoted: "Memo to self: do not visit Jakarta in the rainy season again," wrote Hong Kong-based economist Jim Walker in a note to clients after he was stuck in traffic for nine hours in early February trying to get to Jakarta's airport, a trip that usually takes no more than one hour.
In addition, The Singapore Straits Times quoted Walker, the head of independent research firm CLSA, as observing: "Today's traffic problems are an apt metaphor for Indonesia: Stuck in first gear with long periods of sitting around waiting for the jam to clear. The country is stuck with lousy leadership, weak institutions and below-potential growth."
Don’t hold back Jim, tell it like it is……however, the Jakarta Post continued with an attack on the Toll Road Operator as follows:
”Ironically, the flooding on the toll road took place as the Toll Road Regulatory Body was approving a proposal by state-owned toll road operator PT Jasa Marga to raise the tolls on the Airport toll road by 12.50 percent.
More confusing was that while newspaper front pages on Friday screamed of the havoc on the airport toll road, the business pages of some newspapers headlined the 1,300 percent increase in the net profit of Jasa Marga for the first quarter. (Also note that Fuzzy Bozo, Jakarta’s Governor stated last week that the Council would not invest in a high speed train link from the centre of town to the airport, something that I’m sure Jasa Marga endorsed)
Something appears grossly amiss here. The ridiculously large profit booked by Jasa Marga seems to reflect the government's attitude in treating such basic infrastructure as freeways, airports and seaports as profit centers.”
That in itself would have been all well and good, but, they missed the point, last weeks floods were not caused by incompetence from the toll road operators, it seems City Hall actually had a hand in it. (No big surprises there, fuckwits to a man.)
Photo - Jakarta Indonesia Urbanlog
Hidden away in the same newspaper was a report that coastal residents in North Jakarta will have to rely on sandbags to hold off tidal waves until July, as the administration continues its tender process for the reconstruction of the embankment that holds water from the Java sea.
"We're still profiling the candidates for the projects. We hope we'll sign contracts with the (tender) winners in July," the head of technology development division of the Public Works Agency, Whothefukarwi, was quoted as saying last week.
He said his agency had allocated Rp 15 billion (US$1.6 million) in the 2008 budget to repair several parts of the broken embankment on the northern coast of Jakarta.
So, the tidal flood which caused the blockage, resulting in dozens of flight delays it transpires was actually caused by a collapsing part of the embankment near the airport. Poor old Jasa Marga (well, perhaps not so poor) were unfortunately landed with the blame, deflecting criticism from poor old City Hall.
According to reports, last weeks high tide reached 2.14 meters, while on two occasions last year a 2.20-meter high tide submerged various sub-districts, causing, let me guess, floods, traffic congestion and forced residents to flee their homes.
Previously, Deputy Governor Pripaic said that the embankment repairs are expected to finish in October, four months after the city administration finished the tender procedure.
Accordingly, until them while waiting for the tender process, the administration would have to stall high tides with sandbags and pumps. Which, guess what, they do not have enough off to do the job properly.
So there we have it in a nutshell, it was all the councils fault, oh and lest I forget, these fucking motorcyclists.
Bastards, all of them!
EDIT: 15th May 2008 - From the Jakarta Post...
Airport toll road operator PT Jasa Marga will build a dam to prevent floods caused by high tides, the company said Tuesday.
The dam, made of concrete, will measure 4 meters high by 8 meters deep and 2 kilometers long.
"It will run from kilometer 26 to 28 of the toll road, which is the area most susceptible to flooding. We expect it to be completed in June," Jasa Marga corporate secretary HOkkie Kokkie Marlina said.
Funny that, I would have thought that the council should be doing that, and, "finished in June" ..... amazing what one will do to avoid bad press.
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