Brace yourself for more potholes this year as the City Public Works Agency is only getting a fraction of what it proposed for road repair projects in the city’s 2011 budget.
After discussions with the city government, the City Council approved a Rp 306.6 billion (US$34.9 million) budget for road repairs. The Public Works Agency had asked for Rp 1.304 trillion.
Public Works Agency data said there are 1,010 damaged roads in Jakarta’s five municipalities, mostly in West Jakarta.
Officials from the agency have complained about the meagre budget allowance, saying it would reduced their ability to improve the city’s roads.
West Jakarta Public Works Agency head Pardjiman said the municipal office had proposed to repair two million square meters of damaged roads in a Rp 250 billion project.
“But, the 2011 budget only earmarked Rp 59 billion for us, which means we can repair only 400,000 square meters of road,” Pardjiman said.
He said repair projects would only be able to add concrete layers to 30,000 square meters of road instead of the planned 130,000 square meters.
Pardjiman said the Public Works Agency would propose a budget revision later this year.
South Jakarta Public Works Agency head Yayat Hidayat said his office had asked for Rp 182 billion to repair 131 damaged roads, but only got Rp 72.6 billion to repair 55.
“We can’t do top quality repair jobs with less money and expect great results,” Yayat said.
Public Works Agency head Ery Basworo said with such a small budget the agency would spend less on adding concrete to damaged roads, which was the best the city could hope for.
“It can last up to 10 years, but the cost is four times higher than asphalt roads,” he said.
Ery said the city hoped to add more layers of concrete to severely damaged roads, especially those in West Jakarta.
“We will need more funding for this. If we don’t have enough money this year it will have to wait until 2012,” he said.
City Councilor from Commission D overseeing development affairs Mohammad Sanusi said that Jakarta is currently running on a shoe-string budget.
“It has become more difficult to approve proposals during budget deliberations. City officials failed to provide a thorough explanation as to why they needed so much money for road repairs,” Sanusi, from the Greater Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra), told The Jakarta Post.
The councilor said that city officials needed to get their priorities straight.
“We now have the construction of two elevated roads in the city which got around Rp 800 billion this year,” he said.
Many sections of roads in Jakarta have been badly damaged from frequent flooding.
The city administration has earmarked Rp 1.36 trillion of the city’s proposed Rp 28.5 trillion budget to tackle Jakarta’s flood problems.
The Public Works Agency has allocated Rp 125 billion for repair work on drainage systems to combat flooding in 70 sites in the city, aiming to end flooding by the end of the year.