Driving between Pondok Aren and Ciputat, in Tangerang regency, is not for the faint of heart, with the poorly maintained roads making the trip a bumpy one, to say the least.
Salamudin, a resident of Sawah subdistrict, said Monday he has been complaining for years about the condition of the roads.
"A pregnant woman can deliver a premature baby while driving on these roads," he said, while traveling in a public minivan.
Other passengers in the minivan just smiled at his complaints.
Salamudin demanded that new regent Ismet Iskandar and his deputy, actor-turned-politician Rano Karno, live up to their campaign promises and fix the roads.
"I still remember that when Ismet and Rano were campaigning ahead of the election in early January, they promised that all roads would be fixed, no more potholes," he said.
Salamudin is not the only one to complain about the state of the regency's roads.
From students to traders, anyone who relies on Tangerang's roads has something to say, and it's usually not very nice.
Head of the Tangerang Public Works Agency, Dedi Sutardi, said the administration would try to repair the roads in stages.
He said the administration could not undertake the repairs all at once because of the projected Rp 1.7 trillion cost of the work, which is more than the regency's total budget for this year of Rp 1.6 trillion.
"I realize that more than 50 percent of the 1,200 kilometers of road in the regency are damaged, but we cannot afford the repair costs," he said.
Dedi said his agency had assessed all the damaged roads in 36 subdistricts in the regency, determining which roads would be prioritized for repair.
The agency has listed 931 road projects to be financed this year. The projects include road improvements and development, with Rp 164 billion allocated from this year's budget for the work.
"About 45 percent of the work will be road construction and the rest road repairs," agency official Rony Muharrom said.
Dedy said besides allocating funds from the annual budget, the regency administration was also considering seeking a loan of Rp 200 billion to Rp 300 billion from the West Java Bank (Bank Jabar) to finance roadwork.
No comments:
Post a Comment